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BV  3142  .H35  A32  1893 
Hamlin,  Cyrus,  1811-1900 
My  life  and  times 


Copyright,  1893, 
By  Congregational  Sunday-School  and  Publishing  Societv 


Jietiication 


TO     MY     CHILDREN 
AND    children's    CHILDREN 


PREFACE 


While  the  record  of  my  life  and  times  is  dedicated  to  all  my 
children,  it  is  due  to  my  daughter  Clara  (now  Mrs.  Lee,  of 
Marash)  to  acknowledge  that  her  persevering  insistence,  while 
last  at  home,  was  the  sole  cause  of  its  origin.  All  my  children, 
however,  joined  with  her  in  demanding  it.  It  was  written  in 
familiar  style,  as  addressed  to  them  all.  This  personal  address 
has  been  changed,  and  many  family  references  omitted,  but  the 
origin  and  design  of  the  book  appear  on  every  page,  and  should 
be  kept  in  mind  by  the  reader.  If  some  of  such  references 
remain,  every  one  will  know  how  to  excuse  them. 

My  social  changes  have  been  entirely  omitted  and  reserved 
for  a  separate  record. 

Some  things  that  may  seem  remarkable  in  the  record  were  due 
to  the  remarkable  times  in  which  my  life  was  appointed.  Perse- 
cution, war,  and  the  contest  for  Robert  College  were  the  mold 
into  which  the  life  was  cast,  and  it  could  not  but  have  some 
shapings  which  are  peculiar.  And  there  were  arrangements  and 
deliverances  of  divine  providence  so  wonderful  that  no  flesh  can 
glory  in  His  presence.  C.  H. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Al'Thor's  Frontispiece. 

Hamlin  Homestead 9 

Hamlin  Homestead  (from  another  point  of  view)           .         .  30 

W.   GOODELL,  D.D 182 

Wm.    G.    SCHAUFFLER,  D.D.,  LL.D 188 

Rev.  Henry  A.  Homes,  ll.d. 202 

Colonel  Toros 210 

Rev.  G.  W.  Wood,  d.d. 234 

Bebek  Seminary 244 

Rev.  H.  G.  O.  DwiGHT,  d.d 290 

Pastor  Mardiros 300 

Pastor  Alexander  Djejizian 350 

Christopher  R.  Robert 416 

Rear  View  of  College 452" 

College  from  Asiatic  Shore 472 

Ahmed  Vefyk  Effendi            478 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

PARENTAGE,    BIRTH,   AND   CHILDHOOD. 

PACK 

Stealing  Ox-goads.  —  The  drowned  Chicken  and  earnest  Prayer.  — 

The  arithmetical  Problem.  —  Aunt  Mary  Emerson      ....       9 

CHAPTER  II. 

OUR   FARM   AND   OUR   FARM    LIFE. 

Making  an  Ox-yoke.  —  Our  Stock.  —  Our  Dogs  and  Game.  — 
Family  Reading.. —  Muster  Day  and  Contribution  Box. — 
Produce  of  the  Farm.  —  Question  of  Life  Work.  —  Leaving 
Home  for  Portland.  —  Cold  Storm  and  Suffering 30 

CHAPTER   III. 

APPRENTICE   LIFE   IN   PORTLAND. 

Sights  of  the  City.  —  The  two  Brothers  separate.  —  Fellow  Appren- 
tices. —  Making  silver  Spoons,  etc.  —  My  first  Watch.  —  Dr. 
Edward  Payson.  —  Conversion  and  religious  Life.  —  Albert 
Titcomb.  —  The  Books  I  read. —  Society  for  religious  Improve- 
ment. —  The  evening  School.  —  Prize  Essay.  —  Deacon  Isaac 
Smith.  —  Change  of  life  Plan.  —  "  There  goes  my  dollar  and 
a  half!" 53 

CHAPTER   IV. 

BRIDGTON  ACADEMY. 

Preceptor  Rev.  Charles  Soule. — First  board  Bill. — Sold  the 
Watch.  — Farmer  Howard.  — Silver  Spoons  and  Spectacles. — 
Kindness  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  vSoule.  —  Academy  Debates.  — 
Reading  the  ^-Eneid.  —  Shooting  the  last  Partridge.  —  Chasing 
a  Bear.  —  Hawk  Mountain  and  its  Bowlder. —  Studying  at 
Home.  —  Total  Abstinence  Society.  —  Return  to  Bridgton 
Academy.  —  Term  Closes.  —  Farewell  to  Bridgton  Academy 
and  hail  to  Bowdoin  College 76 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  V. 

BOWDOIN   COLLEGE. 


PAGE 


Hazing.  —  Illness.  —  Good  Dr.  Lincoln.  —  Winter  at  Home. — 
Training  of  Voice.  —  The  two  Societies.  —  Praying  Circle. — 
Smashing  Doors.  —  Who  should  lead  the  Class?  — Academy  at 
Rochester.  —  Sophomore  Year,  no  Hazing.  —  Junior  Year  and 
Hazing.  —  Good  Results.  —  Conversion  of  John  D.  Smith, 
and  his  first  Speech.  — Farewell  Supper. —  Religious  History 
of  the  College.  —  Phebe,  the  ex-slave.  —  Governor  Dunlap's 
Conversion.  — The  Steam-engine  Episode.  —  Choosing  a 
Missionary  Life.  —  Literary  Societies.  —  Challenging  Ghosts 
and  Hobgobhns. —  Hazing  again. — Trial  at  Law.  —  Grad- 
uation      89 

CHAPTER  VI. 

SEMINARY   LIFE  AND   TIMES   AT   BANGOR. 

Roommate  Tappan.  —  Mr.  McGaw.  —  Prospects  of  the  Seminary. 

—  Bangor  and  its  Society.  —  Mrs.  Crosby.  —  Close    Study.  — 
Bible  Class  of  young  Ladies.  —  Storer  and  Yeaton. —  Africa. 

—  Freewill   and  Predestination. — Outside   Work.  —  Lecture 
on  Africa.  —  The  poor  Irish.  —  Mrs.  Cochrane.  —  Mr.  Morrill. 

—  An  Irish  Mob.  —  Professors   Pond,  Shepherd,  Woods. — 
Debate   on   the  Theater. — Appointment  to  Constantinople. 

—  Temperance.  —  First  "Maine  Law"   Address.  —  Close   of 
seminary  Life  and  Farewell  to  Bangor 141 

CHAPTER   VII. 

A  year's  delay. 

Financial  Condition  of  the  Country.  —  Marriage  Deferred.  —  Meet- 
ings at  the  County  Conferences.  —  Drs.  Muzzey,  Jackson, 
Goodell.  —  Supplying  Payson  Church  in  Portland. — The 
Armenian  Circle.  —  Some  Fruits  of  my  short  Ministry.— 
Settlement  of  Dr.  Condit.  —  Preaching  in  Worcester. —  Sudden 
Order  to  get  ready  for  sailing  from  Boston.  —  Farewells. — 
Stormy  Voyage.  —  Mediterranean  worse  than  the  Atlantic. — 
Seasickness. —  Gibraltar,  Africa,  Sicily,  Milo,  Smyrna,  Con- 
stantinople ! 165 

a 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

LANDING   AT   CONSTANTINOPLE   AND    COMMENCEMENT    OF 

MISSIONARY   WORK. 

PAGE 

Meeting  Mr.  Homes.  —  Our  Teacher  Avedis.  —  Blindman's  Buff. 

—  The  Evangelical  Union. —  Secreting  the  Documents. — 
Our  Teacher  taken  away.  —  Greek  and  French.  —  Our  new 
Teacher  Mesrobe.  —  His  Arrest  and  Banishment  and  Escape. 

—  The  rescued  Sailor,  Marcus  Brown.  —  Expulsion  of  the 
Missionaries.  —  Last  Prayer  of  Sultan  Mahmoud.  —  His  Death. 

—  Loss  of  the  Army  and  Fleet.  —  Change    of    Government. 

—  Safety.  —  Smallpox.  —  Expectation  of  the  Plague.  —  Our 
Firstborn.  —  My  four  Associates i8i 

CHAPTER   IX. 

BEBEK   SEMINARY. 

Hiring  a  House.  —  Temporary  Location  in  an  old  Palace.  —  The 
beloved  Invalids.  —  Opening  of  the  Seminary,  November  4, 
1840. — The  first  two  Students.  —  Our  Number  full. — Puri- 
fying the   Language.  —  Effect  of  the  Bible  upon  Language. 

—  Fitting  up  a  Workshop.  —  The  Seminary  a  Place  of  Power. 

—  Plan  to  break  up  the  Seminary.  —  Patriarch's  Secretary. — 
Failure  of  the  Plan.  —  Street  Scenes. — The  French  College. 

—  Enlargement  of  the  Seminary.  — The  Daughter  of  our  Pro- 
prietor. — Visit  to  Brousa  and  Mount  Olympus.  —  Removal  to 
a  larger  House.  —  A  thousand  Visits.  —  Asdik  Agha.  —  Bedros 
Gamalielian. —  His  Conversion.  —  A  Philosopher.  —  Rev.  Dr. 
G.  W.  Wood.  —  Students  from  the  Sultan's  College.  —  Visit 
to  the  Imperial  Jewels. —  Martyrdom  of  Hovakim. — Sir 
Stratford  Canning's  Treatment  of  the  Case. — The  broken 
Oar '    .     .     .     .  205 

CHAPTER  X. 

BEBEK   SEMINARY. 

Division  of  Hours.  —  Children's  Hour.  —  Tea  at  9  p.m.  —  Re- 
modeling the  House.  —  Course  of  Study. — Character  of  the 
Students.  —  Jesuit  Attacks.  —  Reply. — The  Cathohcs  of 
Etchmiadzin.  —  Translation  of  Text-books.  —  Poverty  and 
Rags.  —  Remedy. — The  Dadians.  —  The  English  Engineers. 

—  Late  Home.  —  Industrial  Work  in  the  Seminary.  —  Good 

/// 


3  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Results. — Zenope.  —  Simon  and  Stepan. — Opposition  to 
Industries.  —  Dr.  Lawrence's  Letter. — The  Armenian  Patri- 
archate. —  Its  Power.  —  The  Anathema,  —  The  Burial  of  Oscan. 

—  Protection  by  Turkish  Government.  —  Protestant  Honesty. 

—  Trades  Unions.  —  Baron  Hovsep's  Rat  Trap 244 

CHAPTER   XI. 

THE   SEMINARY   AND   A   NEW   ENTERPRISE. 

A  flour  Mill  and  Bakery.  — Charles  Ede,  Esq.  — Much  Opposition 
and  many  Difficulties.  —  The  Constable  and  the  Interdict.  — 
The  Custom  House. — The  steam  Boiler  and  the  Porters. — Cap- 
tain White  and  the  English  Sailors.  —  My  forty  "  Boys."  —  My 
first  iron  Casting.  —  Letting  on  Steam.  — Gratifying  Success.  — 
First  Baking  of  Bread.  —  Selling  the  Bread.  —  Government 
Testers. —  One  Failure.  — Tempering  the  steel  Picks.  —  Result 
of  the  first  Year.  —  Faithful  Men.  —  History  of  Dr.  Harutiune. 

—  Our  "  bira  Bread."  —  Dr.  Mapleton.  —  Contract  for  the  Hos- 
pital.—  The  Sunday  Delivery.  —  Filling  up  of  the  Hospital. 

—  Dr.  Menzies.  —  Conspiracy. — Appeal  to  Lord  Raglan. — 
Remarkable  Deliverance.  —  Misery  in  the  Hospital. — 
Florence  Nightingale.  —  Return  to  the  bread  Contract.  — 
Furnishing  the  Camp.  —  The  Provost  and  Sunday  Supply.  — 
Coffee  Episode.  —  Church  Building.  —  Earthquake-proof.  — 
The  Judge  "left  out." — Russian  Prisoners.  —  Their  Rations. 

—  Battle  of  Inkerman.  — A  Laundry.  —  Building  a  Church 
out  of  a  beer  Barrel.  —  Sixteen  Professions.  —  Cholera  at  the 
Bakery.  — Death  of  six  Physicians 296 

CHAPTER   XII. 

THE   SEMINARY   DURING   THE   WAR. 

Results  of  the  Industries.  —  Change  in  the  Seminary.  —  Visit  to 
the  United  States  of  America.  —  Voyage  to  Trieste.  —  Last 
Evening  and  Speeches.  —  Visit  to  Trieste  and  Venice.  — 
Verona,  Paris,  London.  —  Origin  of  Turkish  Missions  Aid 
Society.  — Earl  of  Shaftesbury.  —  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

—  Drawing-room  Meeting.  —  Letter  from  the  Earl.  —  Note 
from  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  —  Return  to  America.  — 
Meeting  with  Friends.  —  Old  Friends  in  the  Payson  Church, 

—  The  Armenian  Circle.  —  Return  to    England.. —  Meetings 


CONTENTS.  7 

PAGE 

of  the  Turkish  Missions  Aid  Society.  —  Dr.  Duncan.  — Some 
Results  of  the  Crimean  War.  —  Resuming  Work  at  Constanti- 
nople       370 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE   FOUNDING   OF   ROBERT    COLLEGE. 

Purchase  of  a  Site.  —  My  Relations  with  the  American  Board.  — 
Visit  to  the  United  States  of  America.  —  Professor  William 
Maltby.  —  Venice.  —  Solferino.  —  Milan.  —  Lake  Como.  — 
The  Alps.—  Heidelberg.  — Paris.  — Sir  Hugh  Hughes,  Mem- 
ber of  Parliament.  —  London.  —  Harrow-on-the-Hill.  —  The 
Steadmans.  — Sir  Culling  Eardley.  — Bad  Passage  in  a  bad 
Cunarder. — Jubilee  of  the  American  Board.  —  The  Outlook 
Committee  of  the  Congregational  Club  refuses  to  sanction  my 
working  in  the  Congregational  Churches.  —  In  spite  of  all  a 
great  Meeting  in  Tremont  Temple.  —  Before  the  American 
Academy. —  Mr.  Corliss.  — Rebellion.  —  Mr.  Robert's  Deci- 
sion.—  Return. — English  Feeling  in  London  and  Liverpool. 

—  Mont  Cenis.  —  Prohibition  and  Purchase  of  a  new  Site.  — 
Second  Prohibition.  — The  Abbe  Bore.  — Mr.  Robert   firm. 

—  Opening  the  College  without  asking  Leave. — The  Abbe 
checkmated.  —  Unexpected  Success.  —  American  Embassy.  — 
Sir  Henry  Bulvver.  —  Bribing  Lord  Lyons. —  Aali  Pasha. — 
Meeting  at  Hissar.  — Aali  Lied.  — Midhat  Pasha.— The 
Morgan  and  Seward  Episode  —  Admiral  Farragut.  —  His 
Questions.  —  Imperial  Irade. — Temper  of  the  Pasha.  —  All 
Materials  to  pass  free  for  Work  begun.  —  Materials  for  Mortar. 

—  Trouble  with  Quarrymen.  —  Laying  of  the  corner  Stone. 

—  Kurds  as  Workmen.  — Departure  for  their  Homes.— 
Letter  from  them.  — Henry  M.  Stanley.  —  Visit  of  Mr. 
Robert.  — Transfer  to  new  Building.  —  Mystery  cleared  up. 
—  Ahmed  Vefyk  Pasha's  Character.  —  Unwilling  Return  to 
America  for  an  Endowment.  —  Fire  in  Chicago  causes  my 
immediate  Return. —Again  left  with  my  Family.  —  Meeting 
and  Presentation  at  Mr.  John  Seager's. —Address  with 
Signatures 4^5 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

ENDOWMENT   FUND    FOR    ROBERT    COLLEGE. 

Visit  to  Florida  for  Health.  —  Great  Kindness  of  Friends  in  the 


CONTENTS. 


North  and  in  the  South.  —  Miss  Mather  and  Miss  Perit.  — 
Dr.  J.  W.  Chickering.  — Tallahassee.  —  Monticello.  —  Return 
North.  —  111  Success.  —  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow.  —  Massachu- 
setts General  Hospital,  eighty-five  Days.  —  Hiccough  and  Cure. 

—  Recovery  and  leaving  the  Hospital.  —  Mrs.  Walter  Baker's 
immeasurable  Kindness.  —  Visit  to  Washington.  —  Hamilton 
Fish  and  James  G.  Blaine.  —  Separation  from  Robert  College. 

—  Facing  the  Difficulties.  —  Writing  a  Book.  —  Call  to  Bangor 
Theological  Seminary 485 

CHAPTER   XV. 

RETURN   TO   BANGOR. 

Meeting  the  surviving  Friends.  —  St.  John  and  Fredericton,  New- 
Brunswick. —  Three  Years  at  Bangor.  —  Prohibitory  Law. — 
Notified  of  one  Year  more.  —  The  Earth  is  the  Lord's. — 
Astounding  Election  to  the  Presidency  of  Middlebury  College. 

—  Farewell  Note.  —  My  five  years'  Work  in  Middlebury.  — 
Resignation  and  Reply.  —  Reflections.  —  Superannuation.  — 
Purchase  of  a  House  at  Lexington.  —  First  Gift  from  my 
Chum;  then  a  Downpour  of  Checks.  —  Mr.  Porter's  Re- 
ception. —  Letters.  —  Question  of  Support.  —  Arrangement 
with  the  American  Board.  —  Hartford  Seminary.  —  Death  of 
George  H.  Corliss.  —  Finis 508 


MY   LIFE   AND  TIMES 


CHAPTER  I. 

PARENTAGE,    BIRTH,    AND    CHILDHOOD. 

nr^HE  Hamlins  are  of  Huguenot  descent.  Their 
■*-  ancestors,  driven  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes  (1685)  out  of  France,  where  they  had  suf- 
fered persecution,  and,  in  one  case,  martyrdom,  fled 
to  England  and  Germany.  One  was  a  faithful  friend 
and  supporter  of  "  Palissy  the  Potter."  Many  of 
them  returned  to  France  when  amnesty  was  offered, 
and  their  descendants  are  still  Protestants,  among 
them  being  the  admiral  of  the  French  navy  in  the 
Crimean  war  of  1854-56.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century  the  two  traditional  brothers 
immigrated  to  this  country  from  England,  and  one 
of  them  settled  in  Harvard,  Massachusetts. 

My  grandfather,  Eleazer  Hamlin,  was  a  farmer,  a 
great  reader  of  history,  and  a  true  patriot.  He  had 
seventeen  children,  and  with  three  of  his  sons  fought 
in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  to  the  end.  His  admi- 
ration of  Roman  heroes  led  him  to  name  his  first- 


lO  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

born  son  Africanus  (leaving  off  the  Scipio)  ;  his 
second  he  named  Americus,  the  third  and  fourth,. 
Asiaticus  and  Europus.  But  the  world  called  them 
Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America,  and  there  was  no- 
remedy.  After  the  four  continents,  my  grandfather 
had  twins  (b.  1768)  whom  he  named  Hannibal  and 
Cyrus.  He  also  had  Eleazer,  Jr.,  and  Isaac,  and,  I 
think,  Jacob,  who  died  early.  I  have  no  complete 
list  of  the  names  of  his  children.  Hannibal  was  my 
father.  Cyrus  was  the  father  of  Vice-President  Han- 
nibal Hamlin.  So  you  see  that  I  was  named  for  his 
father  and  he  was  named  for  mine.  Uncle  Africa  was 
always  called  Major  Hamlin,  and  I  suppose  he  rose  to 
that  rank  in  the  war  under  Washington,  whom  he 
held  in  profound  admiration,  keeping  a  Boswellian 
diary  of  everything  he  saw,  heard,  or  knew  of  him. 
It  was  lost  by  too  frequent  lending  to  old  Revolution- 
ary soldiers. 

At  the  close  of  the  great  war  all  that  my  grand- 
father Hamlin  possessed  was  a  large  family  and  a 
free  country.  In  consideration  of  his  great  sacri- 
fices and  faithful  services  a  large  section  of  land  in  the 
** District  of  Maine"  was  given  to  him  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts legislature.  With  unspeakable  hope  and 
joy  he  went  down,  as  the  journey  was  then  desig- 
nated, to  view  it  and  select  farms  for  himself  and  his 
sons.     He  would  then  have  enough  left  for  their  sons. 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  II 

He  found  the  tract  so  rocky  that  nothing  but  a 
sparse  growth  of  spruce  trees  could  sustain  life  upon 
it,  and  so  full  of  caves  that  it  had  become  the  head- 
quarters and  breeding  place  of  bears  ;  which  it  is  to 
this  day.  He  begged  the  legislature  not  to  impose 
the  gift  upon  him,  as  it  was  already  occupied  by  the 
only  inhabitants  it  could  support. 

Finally  four  farms  were  given  to  his  sons  in  Water- 
ford  ;  and  Africa,  Eleazer,  Jr.,  Americus,  and  Hannibal 
came  and  selected  their  places  of  abode.  My  father, 
Hannibal,  had  earned  money  as  a  school-teacher,  and 
was  able  to  clear  a  part  of  the  land  and  to  build  a 
house  and  barn,  and  then  in  the  winter  of  1 799-1 800 
he  went  to  Acton,  Massachusetts,  and  was  married. 

There  were  then  about  thirty-five  families  in  the 
town,  and  a  majority  of  the  men  were  Revolutionary 
soldiers.  My  mother  was  Susan  Faulkner,  born  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1772,  in  Acton,  Massachusetts.  She  was  a 
beautiful  and  charming  woman,  the  daughter  of 
Colonel  Francis  Faulkner,  who  was,  like  my  grand- 
father Hamlin,  a  Revolutionary  soldier  and  a  man  of 
character  and  influence.^  There  was  iron  in  the 
blood  of  the  Faulkners  as  well  as  of  the  Hamlins. 
Colonel  Faulkner  had  eleven  children.  Those  were 
the  days  of  large  families. 

1  I  have  sketched  the  Faulkners  in  my  lecture  before  the  Lexington  Historical 
Society,  published  as  a  pamphlet  under  the  title  "  Colonel  Francis  Faulkner  and 
the  Battle  of  Lexington." 


12  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

My  father  and  mother  took  great  pains  to  keep  up 
Massachusetts  culture  down  in  that  new  settlement 
in  Maine.  When  other  families  were  located  in  the 
neighborhood,  my  father  established  for  the  winter 
months  a  weekly  spelling  match  for  old  and  young. 
After  spelling  awhile  every  one  communicated  what- 
ever news  or  new  thoughts  he  had ;  public  affairs 
were  discussed  ;  and  if  the  young  orchards  had  begun 
to  bear  fruit,  the  evening  was  doubtless  closed  with 
cider  and  apples.  It  was  in  effect  a  rural  lyceum, 
and  it  knit  the  families  together  and  did  much  to 
cultivate  the  intelligence  which  characterized  those 
early  inhabitants  of  the  town. 

I  was  born  January  $,  1811.  I  had  two  sisters, 
Susan  and  Rebecca,  and  a  brother  Hannibal,  two 
years  older  than  myself.  Susan  was  ten  years  older 
than  I,  and  Rebecca  six.  Two  other  children  had 
died  in  infancy. 

Susan  and  Rebecca  were  very  different.  Susan 
had  judgment,  prudence,  and  executive  ability  beyond 
her  years.  From  a  very  early  age  she  was  a  great 
help  to  her  mother.  She  made  a  pet  of  me,  and  I 
would  obey  her  lovingly  almost  as  readily  as  I  did  my 
mother.  I  always*  knew  that  what  she  did  was  right. 
She  governed  us  by  a  strange  influence,  so  that  we 
never  thought  we  were  governed  at  all.  When  I 
was  at  Bridgton  Academy,  old  Mrs.  Dr.  Farnsworth 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  1 3 

told  me  that  at  one  time  she  had  six  or  seven 
boarders,  all  of  them  academy  girls,  and  she  never 
liked  to  be  absent  a  day  unless  Susan  Hamlin  was  with 
them.     Then  she  knew  everything  would  go  right. 

Rebecca  was  the  bookworm,  the  scholar,  the  poet. 
She  used  to  rhyme  in  her  childhood,  and  would  com- 
mit to  memory  poetry  by  the  page.  She  was  always 
first  in  her  class,  and  nobody  supposed  she  would 
ever  develop  such  capacity  for  meeting  the  stern 
experiences  of  life  as  she  did.  She  was  always 
a  lady,  and  always  the  executive  of  her  household. 

I  was  not  a  promising  child  at  the  start.  I  was 
pronounced  "  weakly."  My  "  head  was  too  big!' 
So  the  wise  old  ladies  comforted  my  dear  mother, 
and  told  her  she  must  "never  expect  to  bring  up 
that  child."! 

I  was  doubtless  a  great  care  and  anxiety  to  her. 
My  father  died  of  quick  consumption  when  I  was 
but  seven  months  old,  and  neighbors  often  said  it 
was  my  mother's  devoted  care  of  the  weakly  baby 
that  kept  her  from  sinking  down  in  sorrow.  She 
was  left  with  four  children,  two  farms,  and  a  large 
unsettled  business,  of  which  the  lawyers  relieved  her 
to  their  own  profit  more  than  to  hers.  She  had 
known  almost  nothing  of  the  farm,  and  now  it  was 


1  To  "  raise  a  child"  was  not  used  then  as  in  New  York  state.     We  said  to  "  raise 
a  calf"  —  to  "  bring  up  a  child," 


14  J^Y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

to  be  her  main  support.  But  being  of  good  Puritan 
stock,  and  well  educated  for  the  times,  faculty  and 
capacity  came  with  the  demand,  and  she  conducted 
her  affairs  with  great  prudence  and  wisdom.  Some 
of  her  neighbors  were  very  kind  ;  others  were  not 
at  all  considerate  of  her  interests. 

My  tumbling  downstairs  was  a  story  often  told 
against  me,  and  I  remember  it  perfectly  well.  I  was 
between  three  and  four  years  old.  A  woman  was 
weaving  cloth  at  the  head  of  the  stairs ;  I  was  play- 
ing near  her,  and  rolled  down  bump,  bump,  to  the 
bottom,  making  spots  black  and  blue.  Just  as  I 
came  down,  John  Atherton,  a  jovial  workman  cut- 
ting our  hay,  came  in  with  a  honeycomb  from  a 
bumblebee's  nest,  the  most  delicious  honey  ever 
made.  He  gave  me  the  honey  to  stop  my  crying, 
and  told  me  he  would  give  me  another  if  I  would 
tumble  downstairs  again.  I  tumbled  down  twice 
more  that  day,  and  I  can  remember  his  shouts  of 
laughter ;  for  I  was  all  black  and  blue,  and  my 
mother  stopped  the  play  at  once.  I  had  no  design 
of  tumbling  down,  but  probably  I  played  round  at 
the  top  of  the  stairs  so  that  if  there  was  to  be  a 
tumble,  I  should  be  on  hand  ;  and  I  had  the  three 
honeycombs.  Susan  and  Rebecca  were  indignant, 
but  when  they  poured  out  their  indignation  upon 
John  he  only  laughed  the  more. 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND   CHILDHOOD.  15 

An  early  remembered  act  was  a  criminal  one. 
Indeed,  most  of  my  earliest  remembrances  are  of 
things  discreditable. 

My  mother  had  two  neighbors  at  tea.  They  came 
with  their  babies,  and  as  it  was  summer  time  the 
babies  were  bolstered  up  in  the  open  door  looking 
out  upon  the  lawn  where  I  was  amusing  myself.  I 
threw  a  stone  which  went  through  the  open  window 
and  smashed  my  mother's  china  sugar  bowl  all  to 
pieces.  It  belonged  to  the  tea  set  which  her 
father  gave  her  at  her  marriage.  Mother  simply 
told  me  to  go  round  to  the  other  side  of  the  house 
and  play.  After  the  guests  were  gone,  she  showed 
me  the  broken  pieces  and  told  me  how  sorry  she  was, 
because  her  dear  father  gave  her  that  sugar  bowl. 
I  defended  myself.  I  said,  "  I  did  n't  mean  to  throw 
it  in  at  the  window ;  I  threw  it  at  those  babies  that 
were  hollerin'  in  the  door.     I  hated  them  babies." 

It  was  a  poor  defense.  Mother  very  rarely  in- 
flicted physical  chastisement,  but  this  was  a  most 
atrocious  case  which  demanded  it  and  had  it.  I 
always  respected  babies  after  that. 

The  next  thing  was  still  worse,  and  it  made  an 
indelible  impression  upon  me  and  upon  my  brother. 
We  were  over  at  Mr.  Haskell's  one  day,  and  saw 
a  little  pile  of  oxgoads  split  out  but  not  finished. 
They  were  of   beautiful  straight   ash  wood,  and   as 


l6  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

every  boy  likes  a  stick,  we  each  of  us  took  one  and 
brought  it  home.  That  we  knew  it  was  wrong  was 
sufficiently  demonstrated  by  our  putting  them  behind 
the  door  of  our  wood  shed,  which  concealed  them 
while  open  and  swung  back,  but  as  inevitably  re- 
vealed them  to  any  one  going  out  if  the  door  was 
shut.  George  Haskell,  the  young  man  who  had  split 
them  out,  and  who  was  often  in  and  out  at  our  house, 
saw  the  ill-fated  sticks  standing  in  full  view.  He 
knew  them  instantly  and  took  them  directly  to  our 
mother.  She  called  us  to  account,  and  we  confessed 
having  taken  them.  She  took  us  separately  into  her 
bedroom  and  talked  to  us,  and  showed  such  distress 
at  the  wicked  act  that  we  never  stole  again. 

Our  cousin  Lydia  used  to  laugh  at  us  in  adult  age 
for  never  having  fulfilled  the  promise  of  our  preco- 
cious ability  of  concealing  a  thing  !  A  wicked  act 
is  sometimes  a  means  of  grace,  as  I  believe  this  was 
to  us.  We  confessed  this  and  all  other  sins  in  later 
life,  and  implored  the  divine  forgiveness  ;  but  George 
had  left  the  place,  and  we  never  had  the  opportunity 
to  make  confession  to  him.  But  there  is  in  our 
moral  nature,  ineradicable,  a  necessity  of  confessing 
a  crime  to  the  person  injured,  unless  it  has  become 
impossible.  Nothing  else  will  restore  the  moral 
balance.  About  seventy  years  after  the  occurrence, 
I  met  this  same  George.     Of  course  we  had  only  the 


PARENTAGE,   BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  17 

memories  of  childhood  in  common.  We  had  much 
to  talk  about  in  the  few  minutes  we  were  together, 
and  he  said,  "  I  shall  be  here  again  in  two  weeks,  and 
we  will  talk  up  those  early  days."  I  resolved  to  ask 
him  if  he  remembered  the  goadsticks,  and  to  tell 
him  it  always  remained  upon  my  conscience,  and  he 
must  absolve  me.  He  would  have  laughed,  but  I 
would  have  felt  a  real  satisfaction  in  it.  He  did  not 
come,  and  I  lost  the  chance. 

We  were  a  family  in  which  the  Bible  was  rever- 
enced and  daily  read  as  the  Word  of  God,  and  the 
Sabbath  was  strictly  kept  from  all  unnecessary  labor. 
The  care  of  the  cattle  had  its  fixed  duties,  but 
nothing  that  could  be  called  work  was  allowed ;  and 
Saturday  night,  although  not  kept  strictly  as  holy 
time,  was  the  preparation  for  Sunday.  The  children 
were  bathed,  the  clothes  laid  out  for  the  morning, 
and  then  there  was  some  reading  in  the  parlor  before 
we  retired.  The  meetinghouse  was  nearly  two  miles 
distant,  but  it  was  very  bad  weather  indeed  that  could 
keep  us  all  at  home.  The  church  was  unwarmed,  and 
in  very  cold  weather  our  heroic  sufferings  were  mit- 
igated by  a  foot  stove.  One  of  the  family  always 
had  to  remain  at  home  to  see  to  the  barn  or  the 
pasture  and  its  occupants. 

As  little  boys  are  always  ambitious  to  be  big,  I 
insisted  one  summer  day  that  I  would  take  care  of 


1 8  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

things  alone,  and  mother  granted  my  desire.  I  was 
diligently  instructed  what  to  do,  and  Rebecca  begged 
me  especially  to  be  careful  not  to  leave  the  great 
whey  tub  uncovered  on  giving  the  pigs  their  whey  at 
noon,  for  her  speckled  chicken  might  get  in  and  be 
drowned.  I  promised  faithfully  to  do  everything 
exactly  right. 

That  speckled  chicken  was  quite  a  character.  It 
was  Rebecca's  property  and  pet,  and  was  a  large  and 
beautiful  chicken.  It  knew  its  mistress  perfectly 
well  and  was  the  pride  of  all  the  broods. 

Well,  I  dipped  out  the  whey  to  the  pigs.  I  loved 
to  look  at  them  and  see  with  what  eagerness  they 
drank  it  and  wanted  more.  I  went  off  and  forgot 
all  about  the  whey.  A  long  time  after,  I  thought  of 
it  and  ran  to  the  uncovered  tub.  Woe,  woe,  was  me ! 
There  was  the  speckled  chicken,  its  wings  spread  out 
on  the  fatal  fluid,  dead!  dead!  I  thought,  "Oh, 
what  a  wicked  boy  I  am  !  How  Rebecca  will  weep 
and  break  her  heart !  " 

I  took  the  chicken  out,  pressed  the  whey  out  of 
its  feathers,  and  laid  it  on  the  hot  chips  in  the  sun 
in  front  of  the  long  wood  shed.  I  knelt  down  over 
it  and  called  upon  God  to  restore  its  life.  I  prayed 
earnestly,  if  ever  I  did,  and  I  promised  if  God  would 
only  restore  that  chicken's  life,  I  would  never  do 
another  naughty  thing  so  long  as  I  should  live.     I 


PARENTAGE,   BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  1 9 

would  be  the  best  boy  that  ever  was.  My  soul  was 
in  too  great  distress  to  stay  long  in  one  place,  and 
I  ran  into  the  house  to  find  comfort  there  ;  and  then 
I  came  back  to  the  speckled  beauty  and  knelt  down 
by  it.  It  moved  and  peeped  !  It  came  to  life  !  My 
joy  was  delirious.  Before  Rebecca  came  home  it 
had  begun  to  pick  up  crumbs  like  any  chicken.  I 
told  the  whole  story,  to  the  amusement  of  all. 

As  to  my  promised  goodness,  I  fear  it  was  like  the 
early  dew  and  the  morning  cloud  that  vanish  away ; 
but  the  chicken  story  never  perished. 

I  was  about  six  years  old,  and  a  little  fellow  at 
that,  when  I  had  my  first  day's  experience  at  the 
district  school.  I  had  made  a  small  beginning  at 
home,  but,  the  schoolhouse  being  more  than  a  mile 
away,  my  entrance  on  scientific  pursuits  was  delayed. 
The  master,  Macallister,  was  a  severe  and  brutal 
man,  much  disliked,  ''  but  he  made  the  boys  and  girls 
study."  I  sat  upon  the  front  seat  for  little  boys, 
with  no  desk  before  me.  A  scholar  brought  in  an 
armful  of  shavings  and  threw  them  on  the  fire. 
They  blazed  up  with  a  roar,  and  some  of  them 
fell  and  went  down  through  a  hole  in  the  corner  of 
the  hearth.  There  must  have  been  a  draught  of  air 
upward,  for  immediately  a  bright,  clear,  forked  flame 
shot  up  out  of  the  hole,  and,  little  foolish  boy  as  I 
was,  forgetting  all  my  environment,  I  laughed  right 


20  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

out.  The  stern  voice  called  me  up  to  the  desk.  I 
went  with  trembling  and  told  him  just  how  I  came 
to  laugh  :  ""When  I  saw  that  flame  come  up  straight 
out  of  the  hearth  I  snickered  right  out  'fore  I  knew 
it."  That  made  the  school  laugh  and  the  master 
mad.  "  Hold  out  your  hand ;  there  's  no  laughing 
in  this  school !  "  he  commanded.  He  seized  the  hand 
and  gave  me  a  terrible  ferruling.  I  screamed.  I. 
was  so  terrified  I  don't  think  I  felt  the  pain.  My 
sisters  hid  their  faces  and  wept,  and  so  did  my 
brother.  I  was  "  entirely  kilt."  I  was  disgraced. 
The  crystal  vase  of  life  was  dashed  in  pieces.  What 
would  mother  say.^  Punished  the  first  day,  and  the 
only  boy  punished  that  day  in  school !  But  I  lived 
through  it  somehow.  Going  home,  my  sisters  com- 
forted me  by  saying  that  I  had  not  done  any  wrong, 
and  the  master  was  a  naughty,  wicked,  cruel  man. 
Mother  was  evidently  grieved  and  did  not  reprove 
me.  She  only  said,  **  Scholars  must  mind  the  rules." 
But  the  next  day  I  heard  mother  and  sisters  talking 
about  it  in  the  next  room,  and  declaring  that  such  a 
man  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  teach  school.  That 
mended  my  broken  heart. 

After  this  the  district  was  divided,  and  we  had  a 
schoolhouse  at  a  small  distance.  Our  teachers  were 
persons  whom  we  loved  and  honored.  I  remember 
them  all  with  great  affection. 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  21 

A  decided  forward  step  was  taken  when  we  came 
into  possession  of  a  good  pocketknife.  A  Yankee 
boy  is  not  much  until  he  begins  to  whittle  and  owns 
a  knife.  We  had  a  miserable  thing  which  we  did 
not  respect  and  which  was  not  worthy  of  respect. 
I  remember  well  the  time  when  our  neighbor  Mr. 
Kilgore  made  a  call  and  in  the  course  of  his  talk 
said  to  mother,  *'  I  have  an  excellent  jackknife  for 
your  boys.  We  are  out  of  butter,  and  if  you  will 
give  me  one  of  those  balls  of  butter,  they  shall  have 
the  knife."  No  sooner,  said  than  done,  and  we  were 
rich.  The  knife  was  a  homely  horn-handled  thing, 
but  the  blade  was  of  the  best  of  steel.  We  idolized 
it.  With  its  help  we  became  early  experts  in  making 
sleds  for  coasting  and  for  drawing  in  wood.  If  that 
knife  was  mislaid,  the  house  had  no  peace  until  it 
was  found. 

I  remember  one  incident  as  though  it  were  yes- 
terday. The  knife  was  lost.  We  hunted  for  it  at 
home,  and  made  mother  and  sisters  hunt  with  us ; 
then  despairing  we  rushed  over  to  Mr.  Haskell's,  for 
we  had  had  it  there  that  morning.  So  we  rushed 
back  and  forth,  and  if  we  gave  up  the  hunt  in  one 
place,  we  ran  to  the  other.  Finally  Uncle  Sam  said, 
*'  Stop  this  useless  hunt.  When  the  snow  goes  off 
perhaps  you  will  find  it."  I  began  to  ask  him  what 
we  should  do  till  then,  and  to  protest  that  I  had  had 


2  2  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

the  knife  right  there  on  that  log.  Knocking  my  foot 
in  the  snow,  because  my  toes  were  cold,  /  knocked  up 
the  knife!  right  out  of  the  snow.  I  seized  it  and  ran 
shouting  home,  **  I  've  found  the  knife  !  I  've  found 
the  knife  ! " 

The  household  ran  together  to  participate  in  the 
joy.  We  never  lost  it  again,  and  what  its  end  was  I 
know  not. 

Our  cousin  Henry  Upham,  a  student  in  Harvard, 
visited  us  and  took  note,  evidently,  of  our  beloved 
knife.  After  his  return  he  sent  each  of  us  a  splen- 
did pocketknife,  with  which  our  well-worn  veteran 
could  not  compare.  Susan  took  them,  and  said  no- 
thing till  morning,  when  she  came  early  into  our 
room  with  those  fascinating  knives  in  her  hand  and 
said,  ** These  have  just  come  from  Henry  Upham, 
but  if  you  take  them,  you  must  give  up  your  old 
one."  The  temptation  was  great,  but  our  old  knife 
rose  up  and  appealed  to  us  by  all  the  memories  of 
our  whittling  achievements.  "■  Let  us  not  do  it,"  we 
whispered  to  each  other ;  and  so  we  said  with  flash- 
ing eyes,  "  Send  back  those  knives  to  Henry  Upham 
and  tell  him  we  don't  want  'em."  Then  Susan 
laughed  and  said,  "  You  deserve  them  all  and  shall 
have  them.     I  only  did  it  to  try  you." 

After  awhile  the  dear  old  knife  was  laid  away  in  a 
drawer.     It  had  seen  its  best  days.     It  had  become, 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  23 

like  the  hand  of  the  writer,  nearly  useless  for  labor, 
and  it  was  time  to  pass  into  the  oblivion  which  sooner 
or  later  envelops  all  our  works. 

One  of  my  pleasantest  memories  of  childhood  is 
the  coming  on  of  spring.  It  never  lost  its  charm  to 
us  all  until  we  left  the  farm.  The  long,  severe  win- 
ter, the  roads  often  blocked  with  snow,  cold  hands 
'and  feet,  sometimes  frozen  toes  and  ears  and  nose, 
quorum  pars  fuiy  made  us  long  for  spring  with  a  great 
longing  and  watch  for  every  sign  of  its  approach. 
Who  should  see  the  first  live  fly,  who  should  hear  the 
first  robin  or  see  the  first  swallow  were  things  we 
wanted  to  boast  of.  But  above  all,  the  springing  up 
of  green  grass  in  some  sunny  spot,  and  the  coming 
up  of  apple  seeds  we  had  planted  here  and  there  in 
the  fall  were  revelations  that  never  lost  their  charm. 
They  were  new  and  surprising  wonders,  delighting 
our  hearts  to  the  full.  There  always  seemed  to  be  a 
divine  force  beneath  them.  I  can  never  see  one  of 
these  germs  of  life  now  in  springtime  without  being 
instantly  transported  to  childhood's  home,  and  always 
my  mother  and  brother  and  sisters  are  there. 

Our  apple  trees,  whether  in  blossom  or  fruitage,  are 
another  memory  ineffaceable.  We  had  two  orchards 
in  full  blossom  about  the  last  week  in  May.  One 
could  hardly  determine  which  was  more  entrancing, 
the  vision  of  beauty  or  the    subtle   fragrance   that 


24  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

seemed  to  be  the  very  atmosphere  itself.  Nearly  all 
the  trees  were  brilliantly  white,  with  here  and  there 
one  of  pinkish  hue  that  greatly  enhanced  the  uni- 
versal glory.  If  a  breeze  swept  across  our  path,  it 
brought  a  wave  of  more  delicious  aroma  than  art  ever 
produced.  No  one  could  pass  between  the  house 
and  barns  without  stopping  to  be  filled  with  the 
fragrance  and  the  beauty  on  either  side.  The  sight 
of  an  orchard  in  blossom  always  reproduces  that 
unfaded  picture. 

Our  childhood's  amusements  were  few  and  simple. 
Among  them  were  pitching  quoits  (flat  stones  with  us 
boys),  "firing  "  stones  and  snowballs  at  a  mark,  coast- 
ing on  our  sleds,  and  playing  blindman's  buff,  when 
there  were  enough  together  to  engage  in  it.  In  the 
autumn  berrying  was  a  rage.  It  began  with  straw- 
berries in  July,  and  then,  later,  raspberries,  black- 
berries, blueberries,  huckleberries.  The  land  of  the 
farms  was  then  new,  and  strawberries  grew  as  they 
now  grow  only  by  cultivation.  They  were  hardly  ever 
sold  —  at  least  I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing.  If 
children  from  a  family  brought  a  neighbor  four  or 
five  quarts,  they  probably  did  it  for  something 
which  they  had  not,  as  butter,  cheese,  or  whatever 
it  might  be.  No  price  was  set  on  either  side. 
I  remember  giving  twenty-five  cents  for  a  large 
milk  pail   heaping   full  of   magnificent  blackberries, 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  25 

I  suppose  ten  or  fifteen  quarts,  and  the  children 
thanked  me  heartily. 

Our  childhood  was  not  without  its  labors.  Every 
family  was  a  hive  of  industry,  summer  and  winter. 
Clothing  was  chiefly  of  home  manufacture.  Every 
family  made  woolen  cloth,  which  went  to  the  fulling- 
mill,  where  it  was  fulled  and  dressed  and  colored. 
It  was  fine  or  coarse  or  very  coarse,  according  to  the 
quality  of  the  wool  and  the  skill  of  the  workers. 
There  was  no  little  competition  and  pride  in  these 
domestic  manufactures.  Linen  cloth  was  also  made 
for  summer  wear,  and  it  never  wore  out. 

We  boys  had  various  duties  in  the  house,  but 
out-of-doors  we  had  one  task  which  we  disliked. 
In  the  spring,  before  the  grass  was  more  than  an 
inch  or  two  high,  and  in  the  fall,  after  crops  were 
harvested,  we  had  to  pick  up  stones  and  pile  them 
into  piles  equidistant  and  on  straight  lines.  A  free 
surface  was  absolutely  necessary  for  the  mowers,  or 
their  scythes  would  suddenly  come  to  grief.  Never 
could  little  boys  be  engaged  in  a  more  useful  work. 
We  were  excused  from  lifting  all  heavy  stones,  and 
were  assured  that  the  little  ones  did  all  the  mischief. 
But  we  hated  the  work,  and  I  never  knew  a  boy  so 
belated  in  his  evolution  as  to  like  it. 

We  could  also  drop  corn  and  potatoes  and  beans 
and  punkin  seeds  very   early.     Every   other   hill  in 


26  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

every  other  row  had  five  beans  on  the  south  side  of 
the  corn.  The  beanless  rows  were  well  provided 
with  pumpkins.  The  land  was  new,  the  barnyard 
dressing  was  plentiful,  ashes  and  ground  plaster 
of  Paris  were  freely  used,  and  abundant  crops 
were  the  results.  We  had  to  do  the  ashing  and 
plastering  of  the  corn.  A  large  tub  of  ashes  would 
be  drawn  out  to  the  edge  of  the  field,  and  the  little 
boys,  each  with  his  pail  and  wooden  spoon,  dealt  out 
a  certain  measure  of  ashes  to  each  hill  before  the 
first  hoeing.  If  it  were  plaster  of  Paris,  the  fingers 
were  used,  about  a  heaping  teaspoonful  being  given 
to  each  hill. 

We  had  some  kind  hand,  probably  at  the  request 
of  our  mother,  to  provide  us  with  boys'  tools.  We 
had  a  small  axe,  scythe,  rake,  and  spreading-sticks. 
Spreading  hay  was  fun,  though  raking  was  not. 
Hannibal  with  his  small  scythe  became  a  skillful 
mower  two  or  three  years  before  I  did.  He  had  a 
native  tact  at  doing  things  which  I  did  not  have. 
What  I  have  done  in  mechanics  has  been  by  per- 
sistent effort  and  determination.  He  was  a  natural 
mechanic,  and  had  marvelous  precision  and  neatness 
in  all  that  he  did  ;  and  yet  I  was  destined  to  be  the 
mechanic.  We  are  in  many  things  the  creatures  of 
our  circumstances. 

Like  most  children,  I  was  fond  of  asking  questions, 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  2  7 

and  sometimes  people  laughed  at  my  questions  and 
mortified  me  so  that  I  became  afraid  of  asking  things 
I  wished  to  know.  I  asked  my  mother  once  what 
was  meant  by  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen.  She 
told  me  it  was  so  many  years  since  Jesus  was  born 
in  Bethlehem.  "  But  how  do  they  know,  mother  ?  " 
*'They  have  kept  it  right  along,"  was  her  reply. 
"This  year  is  1818,  next  year  will  be  18 19,  and  the 
year  after  1820,  and  so  on."  That  satisfied  me.  I 
felt  I  was  growing  in  wisdom  and  knowledge. 

I  suppose  there  is  a  point  when  a  child  begins  to 
think  for  himself  —  to  reason  out  a  thing.  I  know 
that  point  in  my  experience,  as  it  appears  to  me. 
My  mother,  seeing  that  water  was  leaking  through  a 
crack  in  a  kettle  hanging  over  the  fire,  put  in  some 
meal  right  over  the  crack,  and  as  it  settled  down  in 
the  leak  was  stopped.  She  had  hardly  turned  away 
when  the  water  in  the  kettle  rose  up  and  spilled  over. 
I  cried  out  in  surprise,  "Mother,  you  put  in  cold 
meal  and  the  water  boiled  right  over!"  "Yes," 
she  said  ;  "  flour  always  makes  water  boil  over  badly 
if  you  don't  take  it  off."  I  continued  thinking  about 
it  until  I  said  to  myself,  "  The  flour  makes  the  water 
so  thick  the  steam  can't  escape,  and  it  has  to  lift  the 
water  up  to  get  out."  I  gloried  in  having  satisfied 
myself.  From  that  point  I  started  out  on  the  career 
of  endless  thought. 


28  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

It  was  at  a  later  period  than  this,  and  when  I  may 
have  been  ten  years  old,  that  I  solved  by  accident 
a  problem  that  gave  me  a  false  reputation  in  arith- 
metic, of  which  I  knew  nothing  but  the  four  rules. 
Three  or  four  young  men  were  sitting  round  a  table 
proposing  puzzles.  One  was  how  to  write  four 
nines  so  as  to  express  one  hundred.  They  declared 
it  was  impossible.  I  knew  nothing  about  fractions, 
but  I  knew  that  two  halves,  three  thirds,  four  fourths 
etc.,  of  a  thing  make  one,  or  the  whole,  and  said  to 
myself,  "  Nine  ninths  make  one."  I  plunged  right 
in  when  I  had  no  business,  and  taking  a  pencil  wrote 
99f.  The  proposer  of  the  puzzle  said,  *'  The  boy 
has  done  it,  but  somebody  told  him  or  he  got  it 
somewhere."  I  protested,  "  Nobody  ever  told  me, 
and  I  did  n't  get  it  nowhere  !  "  This  performance 
gave  me  a  reputation  I  could  not  keep  up.  I  was 
rather  slow  in  arithmetic  except  for  an  occasional  hit 
at  a  problem. 

My  brother  early  became  a  neat  penman,  and 
never  had  a  blot  on  his  writing  books.  I  could  beat 
him  and  almost  every  other  scholar  in  blots,  and  my 
handwriting  was  the  despair  of  "  schoolma'ams  "  and 
masters.  But  I  was  a  pretty  good  speller.  I  won 
two  prizes  for  spelling  —  small  books.  One  was 
a  stupid  thing  which  I  kept  for  many  years  because 
it  was  a  prize.     The  other  was  given  me   by  Miss 


PARENTAGE,  BIRTH,  AND    CHILDHOOD.  29 

Mary  Emerson,  and  was  a  sweet,  attractive  tale  of 
Swiss  mountaineers. 

Miss  Emerson  was  a  character.  She  was  aunt  to 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  and  she  almost  worshiped 
him.  She  was  a  transcendentalist.  She  would  some- 
times spend  the  winter  months  at  our  house,  we  had 
a  chamber  so  retired  and  our  family  was  so  quiet. 
She  wanted  no  one  to  enter  her  chamber.  If  the 
boys  would  keep  the  woodbox  full  outside  of  her 
door,  she  wanted  no  other  service.  She  gave  herself 
devotedly  to  study  and  writing  ;  she  was  going  to 
leave  her  thoughts  to  posterity.  She  wrote  a  great 
deal,  but  what  no  one  ever  knew.  She  often  spent 
an  evening  hour  with  the  family,  and  her  conversa- 
tion was  instructive  and  entertaining.  She  gave  me 
"The  Mountain  Lute"  for  being  "at  the  head"  in 
reading  and  spelling.  I  kept  it  many  years,  but  it 
has  gone  the  way  of  all  flesh.  I  advise  all  children 
to  have  a  little  box  for  their  "keeps  "  and  hold  them 
safe  through  life.  The  variety,  cares,  excitements, 
and  intense  occupations  of  missionary  life  have  been 
fatal  to  many  precious  keepsakes. 

There  is  no  marked  line  between  our  childhood 
and  our  farm  life  as  boys  hard  at  work,  and  I  might 
as  well  pass  to  it  right  here. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OUR  FARM  AND  OUR  FARM  LIFE. 

OUR  farm  was  situated  on  the  county  road 
leading  from  Bridgton  through  Waterford  and 
Norway  to  Paris,  the  shire  town  of  Oxford  County. 
It  had  a  very  pleasant  western  aspect  of  cultivated 
farms  rising  to  the  hilltops,  and  beyond  were  the 
White  Hills,  Mt.  Washington  always  telling  us  when 
it  put  on  its  white  cap  of  snow. 

My  father,  in  the  phrase  of  our  courts  at  that  day, 
was  the  high  sheriff  of  Oxford  County.  He  died  at 
the  early  age  of  forty-two,  as  has  been  said;  and 
the  farm  life  of  myself  and  brother  was  without  the 
care  and  help  of  a  father.  We  were  early  inured  to 
toil.  We  took  to  it  kindly,  and  were  ambitious  to 
do  men's  work  while  we  were  mere  boys.  Our  ever- 
watchful  mother  tried  to  guard  us  against  overwork, 
but  my  brother's  constitution  was  unquestionably 
injured  by  it.  I  was  naturally  too  tough  to  be  in- 
jured. I  was  like  the  willow,  he  like  the  pine  tree 
which  is  often  broken  by  the  storm. 

Our  father  left  a  large  supply  of  farm  implements 
such  as  were  then  in  use ;  but  after  his  death  our 


OUR  FARM  AND    OUR  FARM  LIFE. 


31 


neighbors  were  always  ready  to  borrow  them  ;  and 
when  we  boys  were  old  enough  to  look  after  them 
a  great  many  things  which  this  neighbor  and  that 
said  belonged  to  us  were  not  to  be  found.  I  once 
went  for  an  article  which  the  neighbor  confessed 
belonged  to  us,  but  he  said  he  could  n't  do  without 
it,  and  he  wished  I  would  bring  it  back  when  I  had 
done  with  it !     Did  I  ? 

At  length  everything  seemed  to  give  out.  The 
potato  cart  and  the  hay  cart  were  utter  wrecks, 
and  could  no  more  be  used.  The  holes  of  the  ox- 
bows had  worn  enormously  large  in  the  yoke,  and 
finally  they  split  out,  and  the  yoke  came  to  the  hon- 
orable death  of  old  age  with  all  the  rest.  Owing  to 
some  troubles  in  the  district,  there  was  to  be  no 
school  all  winter  long,  and  we  resolved  to  see  what 
we  could  do.  Our  financial  resources  were  only  suf- 
ficient to  buy  a  new  plow  and  a  pair  of  cart  wheels. 
We  resolved  to  make  the  rest  —  a  resolve  at  which 
our  neighbors  laughed.  I  was  then  about  thirteen 
or  fourteen,  and  my  brother  two  years  older,  with  a 
natural  gift  at  whittling  out  things. 

We  cut  down  in  our  wood  lot  a  nice  yellow  birch 
and  obtained  two  lengths  for  yokes.  We  had  a 
board  pattern  from  a  neighbor,  and  began  to  hew 
the  log  to  the  pattern.  For  tools  we  had  an  axe, 
drawshave,  jack-plane,  and  an  augur.     The  poor  log 


32 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


was  never  left  alone ;  while  one  was  taking  care  of 
the  barn,  the  other  was  at  the  yoke.  It  was  soon  in 
shape  so  that  we  could  carry  it  into  the  kitchen  in 
the  evening  and  work  upon  it  before  the  fire,  until 
our  mother  would  make  us  leave  it  and  go  to  bed. 
It  was  very  difficult  to  work  the  curved  surface  with 
nothing  but  a  drawshave.  We  heard  of  a  man  who 
had  a  spokeshave  and  we  borrowed  it.  The  yoke 
was  splendidly  finished.  We  scraped  it  nicely  with 
pieces  of  glass,  and  then  polished  the  surface  by 
hard  rubbing  with  a  dry  stick.  It  was  at  length 
"a  thing  of  beauty."  But  the  holes  were  not  bored. 
We  bored  them  the  best  way  we  could  —  and  ruined 
the  yoke!  The  holes  were  not  parallel,  and  the  bows 
would  not  enter.  When  we  saw  there  was  no  remedy 
our  hearts  broke.  If  I  did  not  cry,  it  was  because 
my  grief,  disappointment,  and  sense  of  loss  were  too 
deep  for  tears. 

Major  Stone  came  along  and  scolded  us  for  trying 
to  do  what  few  men  can  do  well.  But  he  comforted 
us.  He  praised  the  work.  He  said  no  better  yoke 
could  be  made.  "Make  another  just  like  that,  but 
leave  it  straight  on  the  back,  and  I  will  bore  the 
holes."  We  went  at  it  and  made  it,  but  as  he  did 
not  come  the  very  minute  we  wanted  him,  we 
invented  a  way  that  would  hold  the  augur  parallel 
to  itself  all  the  time  in  making  the  four  holes.     It 


OUR   FARM  AND    OUR   FARM  LIFE.  33 

was  a  complete  success,  and  our  hearts  swelled  with 
joy.  We  gave  it  the  highest  possible  finish.  It 
was  an  improvement  on  our  first  one,  and  we  were 
glad  of  our  misfortunes.  How  often  that  experience 
reappears  in  human  life! 

Major  Stone  came  along  and  seeing  this  one  said, 
"  Well,  boys,  who  bored  those  holes  t  "  "  We  bored 
them,"  was  the  answer.  "  Then  you  have  spoiled 
another  good  yoke,"  said  he.  But  trying  them  and 
finding  them  perfect  he  said,  "  Don't  you  tell  me  a 
lie  ;  you  never  did  that."  When  we  showed  him 
how,  he  laughed  and  said,  "When  I  make  a  yoke 
you  shall  bore  it."     We  felt  lifted  up. 

One  great  injury  to  be  guarded  against  was  the 
checking  or  cracking  of  the  ends  of  the  yoke  in 
drying.  They  needed  to  be  wet  every  day,  or  a 
piece  of  wet  cloth  thrown  over  them.  We  were  told 
to  soak  them  well  with  paint  again  and  again.  I 
went  up  to  Deacon  Carleton's,  the  cabinetmaker, 
and  bought  a  pot  of  brilliant  red  paint,  and  borrowed 
a  brush,  and  we  painted  the  yoke  a  most  brilliant 
red,  and  every  few  days  painted  it  over  again. 
It  was  the  most  magnificent  object  my  eyes  had 
ever  seen,  or  ever  will  see  in  this  life.  Many  a  time 
I  have  stood  before  it  with  my  hands  in  my  pockets, 
to  drink  in  the  unmatched  splendor. 

We  then  proceeded  to  make  an  axle  and  tongue 


34  ^^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

for  the  new  cart  wheels,  and  a  potato  body  or  box 
body  and  the  hay  body.  These  were  in  part  arrayed 
in  the  same  splendor,  and  we  reaped  a  rich  reward 
for  our  persevering  labors  in  the  aesthetic  enjoyment 
of  these  works  of  high  art. 

I  ought  not  to  ridicule  them,  however,  for  there 
was  real  education  in  all  this  hard  training.  We 
derived  as  much  real  preparation  for  the  battle  of 
life  as  we  should  have  derived  from  ten  weeks' 
schooling. 

We  generally  had  half  a  dozen  cows,  a  yoke  of 
oxen,  fifteen  to  eighteen  sheep,  the  *' old  mare,"  and 
two  or  three  colts  of  different  ages,  together  with 
the  young  cattle  reserved  to  supply  the  wastes  of 
time.  We  were  on  the  best  of  terms  with  them  all. 
Each  one  had  its  name  and  seemed  to  know  it. 
We  really  loved  our  noble  oxen.  Star  and  Golding, 
for  whose  patient  and  powerful  necks  we  made  the 
magnificent  yoke.  Our  cows  were  the  Great  Red, 
the  Great  Brindle,  Thief  Brindlc,  Old  Scrimp,  Little 
Red,  and  Little  Brindle  —  not  as  being  smaller, 
but  younger.  Great  Red  and  Great  Brindle  were 
queenly  beings.  Thief  Brindle  was  wicked.  There 
was  hardly  a  fence  she  would  not  jump  over  or  break 
through  to  get  at  the  corn  or  whatever  else  her  soul 
lusted  after.  And  yet  she  was  a  great  coward.  If 
she  saw  one  of  us  coming  with  a  stick,  she  would 


OUR  FARM  AND   OUR  FARM  LIFE.  35 

decamp  with  such  haste  that  she  rarely  received  any 
righteous  penalty  for  her  deeds.  Old  Scrimp  was 
also  a  thief,  but  a  sneak  thief,  her  nose  in  everything, 
watching  for  a  chance  to  steal. 

Hannibal  and  I  had  made  a  new  gate  for  our  gar- 
den of  which  we  were  very  proud.  Thief  Brindle 
came  along,  and  seeing  the  cabbages  on  the  other 
side  put  her  head  against  the  center  of  the  gate  and 
broke  it  through  and  lifted  the  frame  off  its  hinges. 
Our  neighbor  came  laughing  and  crying  out,  '*  The 
cow  has  stolen  your  new  gate  and  is  eating  your  cab- 
bages !  "  She  escaped  as  usual,  but  we  drove  her  into 
the  barn-yard,  and  then  we  could  not  get  the  gate 
over  her  horns.  We  must  either  cut  off  her  head, 
which  she  richly  merited,  or  take  the  gate  to  pieces. 
The  latter  being  the  more  economical,  we  proceeded 
to  do  it,  amid  the  laughter  and  jokes  of  those  who 
had  gathered  round.^ 

But  we  really  loved  our  dumb  animals.  To  this 
day  I  remember  them  all  with  real  affection,  and 
wish  I  had  done  more  for  their  comfort. 

Our  dogs  are  a  memory  of  joy  and  sorrow.  The 
boundless  love  between  a  dog  and  his  master  and 
master's  family  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  our 
earthly  state.     Our   first    dog  was    Bose  —  a   noble. 


^  An  ingenious  youth,  on  hearing  the  story,  remarked:  "That  is  the  first  cow  I 
ever  heard  of  wearing  a  necklace  made  of  a-gatc!  " 


36  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES,     . 

powerful,  faithful,  intelligent  fellow,  black  as  coal. 
He  was  our  father's  dog,  and  on  the  coldest  evenings 
would  sit  on  the  doorstone  and  watch  for  his  coming 
when  he  would  come  no  more.  It  sometimes  made 
my  mother  weep.  My  sister  Susan,  eleven  years  old, 
would  put  her  arms  round  his  neck  and  tell  him  : 
"  He  won't  come  to-night,  dear  Bose.  Come  in  and 
you  shall  watch  for  him  to-morrow ; "  and  so  she 
would  bring  him  in.  He  seemed  to  be  one  of  the 
family.  In  the  days  of  his  strength  he  formed  a 
habit  which  proved  his  death.  Our  well  was  between 
the  dairy  room  and  the  woodshed,  one  end  of  which 
was  also  dairy  room  certain  parts  of  the  year.  A 
slide  door  closed  the  well  curb  from  the  dairy  room, 
and  when  water  was  drawn  on  that  side  the  door 
was  open.  The  dog,  coming  in  or  going  out,  would 
bound  over  the  well  through  that  door,  with  a  leap 
so  graceful  in  its  curve  that  he  was  often  put  through 
it  for  the  admiration  of  visitors.  He  was  growing 
blind  from  age,  but  still  he  loved  that  way  in.  One 
cold,  icy  day  in  winter  he  leaped  against  the  door 
and  fell  back  into  the  well.  Oh,  the  anguish  that 
filled  our  hearts ! 

A  boy  mounted  our  horse  and  went  a  mile  for  our 
cousin  Addison  Hamlin.  He  came  at  the  highest 
speed,  and  with  a  rope  round  him  went  instantly 
down  the  icy  rocks  and  put  the  dog  in  a  basket.     He 


OUR   FARM  AND    OUR   FARM  LIFE. 


37 


had  ceased  to  moan.  He  breathed  convulsively  two 
or  three  times,  while  we  gathered  round  him  wiping 
him  dry  and  calling  upon  him  to  live.  The  grief  of 
our  hearts  can  be  remembered ;  it  cannot  be  de- 
scribed. For  many  years  that  scene  could  not  be 
recalled  without  tears. 

Our  next  dog  was  Caper,  a  fine  fellow,  but  he  fell 
into  bad  habits  of  chasing  sheep  and  was  justly  shot 
by  a  neighbor,  one  of  whose  lambs  he  was  feasting 
on.  We  boys  cried  over  his  untimely  death.  We 
did  n't  believe  him  guilty  of  any  wrongdoing. 

Boys  in  the  country  cannot  long  live  without  a  dog. 
We  went  to  a  distant  neighbor  and  obtained  a  puppy 
and  named  him  Carlo.  He  soon  became  a  great 
playmate.  That  was  all  he  was  good  for,  he  was  so 
much  petted.  He  was  a  genius  at  play ;  he  tempted 
us  to  it  oftentimes  to  the  delay  of  other  duties. 

The  game  in  our  environment  was  composed  of 
squirrels  of  all  kinds,  —  red,  gray,  and  black,  —  par- 
tridges, pigeons,  hawks,  crows,  woodpeckers,  foxes, 
rabbits,  and  woodchucks.  Carlo  was  death  on  all 
these ;  but  he  would  tree  a  little  red  squirrel  and 
bark  all  night  at  him.  My  brother  and  I  were  pas- 
sionately fond  of  hunting.  We  had  each  of  us  a 
gun  —  "a  fowling  piece."  We  killed  something  of 
all  the  above  except  "bre'r  rabbit."  Twice  we 
chased  a  bear,  but  never  got  a  shot  at  one.     Bears 


38  ^y  I^IFE  AND    TIMES. 

had  become  very  shy.  They  always  made  their 
escape  to  "  Hamlin's  Grant,"  as  the  tract  offered 
Eleazer  Hamlin  is  still  called. 

Carlo  was  always  about  when  he  saw  us  with  a 
gun.  If  he  treed  a  squirrel,  we  must  shoot  it  or  he 
would  die  watching  and  barking  at  it.  It  was  the 
same  if  he  chased  a  woodchuck  into  a  hole.  He 
would  bark  at  that  hole  like  Beecher's  dog  Noble. 
He  would  always  follow  the  chaise  wherever  it  went, 
and  Sundays  we  had  to  shut  him  up,  because  he 
would  insist  upon  making  one  of  the  audience.  He 
soon  got  round  that,  for  Sunday  morning  he  was  not 
to  be  found.  About  halfway  to  church  he  would 
turn  up  sneakingly  and  beseech  us  to  forgive.  If  he 
saw  one  of  us  laugh,  he  knew  he  had  won  his  case, 
and  his  ecstasy  knew  no  bounds. 

At  length,  like  Bose,  he  grew  blind  and  also  deaf. 
His  life  was  a  burden  to  himself,  for  he  had  lost  in 
great  measure  the  sense  of  smell.  He  was  tenderly 
cared  for,  but  at  length  my  brother,  with  many  tears, 
had  him  carried  into  the  woods  and  shot  through  the 
head. 

Hannibal  wrote  me  a  pathetic  letter,  and  I  replied 
in  the  following  doggerel  :  — 

Far  in  the  lonely  woods 

Where  wild  flowers  scent  the  air. 
Carlo  shall  rest  in  peace, 

For  aye  reposing  there. 


OUR  FARM  AND    OUR  FARM  LIFE,  39 

The  winds  sigh  o'er  his  grave 

With  sad  and  solemn  sound. 
And  nightly  make  their  wail 

Above  his  leafy  mound. 

Birds  sing  his  funeral  dirge 

When  night  winds  cease  their  moan; 

Silent  and  sad  he  sleeps, 
Yet  sleeps  he  not  alone. 

Squirrels  their  revels  keep 

About  his  lonely  bed; 
Woodchucks  and  rabbits  bless 

Their  stars  that  he  is  dead. 

Upon  his  naked  skull 

They  crack  their  nuts  with  glee 
And  boast  if  't  were  alive, 

They  'd  crack  their  nuts  as  free. 

I  closed  with  a  moral  and  a  resolve,  but  I  cannot 
recall  it,  and  English  literature  will  forever  suffer 
the  loss. 

I  think  I  can  recollect  every  book  we  had  in  our 
library.  We  had  two  large  Bibles  (Ostervalds),  one 
with  and  one  without  the  Apocrypha,  Hannah 
Adams'  History  of  New  England,  Goldsmith's  His- 
tories of  Greece  and  Rome,  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield, 
Rasselas,  Prince  of  Abyssinia,  Elegant  Extracts, 
Tristram  Shandy,  a  book  on  farming  (and,  as  I  be- 
lieve, an  excellent  one),  but,  above  all.  Pilgrim's  Pro- 


40  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

gress  and  Robinson  Crusoe.  We  took  The  Panoplist, 
with  its  blue  covers,  from  the  beginning;  and  by 
combination  with  three  other  famihes,  minister's  and 
doctors',  The  North  American  Review.  This  my 
mother  and  sisters  read,  as  being  beyond  us  boys ; 
but  I  used  to  listen  with  eager  ears,  understanding 
some  things  perfectly  well,  and  wondering  if  I  should 
ever  be  able  to  comprehend  the  whole  of  that  won- 
derful book.  Our  uncle.  Dr.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  of  Paris 
Hill,  had  .a  much  larger  library.  Paris  was  the  shire 
town.  Mr.  Lincoln,  a  lawyer  and  a  poet,  who  be- 
came one  of  the  early  governors  of  Maine,  boarded 
with  him,  and  my  sisters  made  frequent  drafts  upon 
that  house.  It  was  from  that  source  we  had  Las 
Cases'  Life  of  Napoleon,  which  fired  our  hearts 
against  England.  In  our  boyhood  the  old  spirit  of 
intense  hatred  to  England  still  smoldered  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people.  The  treatment  of  Napoleon 
was  considered  barbarous,  as  indeed  it  was.  Our 
few  books  were  thoroughly  read,  and  we  could  give 
a  good  account  of  them. 

Esquire  Howe  (**  Square  Howe "  he  was  always 
called)  came  to  live  in  the  lower  village.  Calling  at 
our  house  one  day  he  saw  us  boys  reading,  and  talk- 
ing with  us  found  we  were  fond  of  history.  He 
commended  to  us  Rollin's  Ancient  History,  in  four 
large  volumes,  if  we   thought   we  could  understand 


OUR  FARM  AND    OUR  FARM  LIFE.  41 

such  a  great  work.  We  assured  him  we  would  like 
to  try  it.  "  Call  at  my  office,"  he  said,  "  and  get  the 
first  volume,  and  when  you  have  read  it  bring  it  back 
and  tell  me  if  you  want  the  second,  and  so  on."  We 
bestowed  our  spare  time  upon  this  great  work  for 
months.  It  gave  us  a  new  idea  of  the  world  and  its 
^  history.  I  hold  Mr.  Howe's  memory  in  grateful 
remembrance. 

Our  family  was  a  reading  family.  On  winter 
evenings  one  of  us  always  read  aloud,  while  some  of 
the  family  industries,  as  sewing  and  knitting,  were 
going  on.  There  is  a  bright  glow  of  social  happiness 
over  those  evenings,  as  they  recur  to  me  in  memory. 
To  my  brother  and  myself  the  family  training  of 
reading  and  discussion  was  of  more  value  than  the 
common  school.  Our  mother  and  sisters  were 
authorities  that  we  never  questioned.  Two  or  three 
of  Scott's  novels  were  read,  Quentin  Durward  the 
first  ;  but  our  reading  was  mainly  historical  and 
biographical.  The  Bible  was  read  before  retiring 
to  rest,  and  each  child  had  a  system  of  reading 
the  Bible  through,  one  chapter  every  day  and 
five  every  Sunday.  Our  Sundays  were  sacredly 
guarded  from  all  unnecessary  labor,  and  the  reading 
was  in  harmony  with  the  sacredness  of  the  day. 
The  Panoplist,  and  afterward  its  successor,  The 
Missionary  Herald,   was  read  aloud,  and  especially 


42  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

every  item  of  missionary  news,  for  some  of  our 
neighbors  did  not  believe  in  missions.  The  missions 
were  then  so  few  that  a  close  acquaintance  with 
them  was  easily  cultivated,  and  we  believed  in  them 
with  all  our  might. 

About  the  year  1820  or  1821  a  proposal  was  made 
to  the  church  to  respond  to  the  call  for  aid  to  edu- 
cate heathen  boys  in  Christian  schools  in  India. 
Twelve  dollars  a  year  would  educate  a  boy.  A 
penny  contribution  box  was  offered  to  the  Sunday 
audience  by  the  door,  as  they  passed  in  and  out. 
The  cent  was  the  limit  in  one  direction  against  half 
cents,  but  in  the  other  there  was  no  limit.  The 
object  was  to  raise  a  dollar  a  month.  It  was  pro- 
posed and  voted  to  name  the  boy  Lincoln  Ripley, 
after  our  saintly  and  excellent  pastor.  All  the  boys 
and  girls  were  invited  to  try  for  a  cent  a  week. 
There  was  little  money  in  the  country,  and  the  trade 
was  largely  barter.  But  there  was  a  potash  factory 
in  the  place,  and  ashes  commanded  a  good  price. 
The  boys  could  cultivate  a  potato  patch.  Good 
potatoes  were  ten  cents  a  bushel.  Girls  could  braid 
straw  for  hats  and  bonnets,  or  knit  woolen  under- 
wear. By  hook  and  by  crook  the  box  collected  its 
dollar  a  month,  adults  putting  in  the  larger  contri- 
butions. Much  interest  was  excited  in  the  work, 
and  we  thought  we  were  doing  something  great.     It 


OUR  FARM  AND    OUR  FARM  LIFE. 


43 


was  more  difficult  then  for  a  boy  to  earn  a  cent  than 
it  is  now  to  earn  a  nickel. 

We  had  four  great  days  in  the  year  —  first  of  all 
Thanksgiving  day.  That  has  been  written  into  the 
ground,  but  I  love  to  recall  its  household  joy  and 
evening  sports. 

Then  the  Fourth  of  July,  **  the  glorious  Fourth." 
The  reading  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  arranged  beforehand,  and  everybody  knew 
who  was  to  have  the  honor.  That  occasion 
always  fired  our  souls.  We  wondered  that  such  a 
wretch  as  George  III  had  been  allowed  to  live. 
We  have  lost  the  Fourth  of  July.  It  is  still  worth 
keeping  with  less  powder  and  more  patriotism. 
Mr.  Bowen  sets  a  noble  example  in  his  Woodstock 
celebrations. 

Election  day  was  a  holiday,  and  we  always  had 
election  cake  and  some  boyish  sports. 

But  the  annual  muster  was  the  great  day.  Then 
a  regiment  turned  out,  and  this  was  all  "  the  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  war  "  our  eyes  were  privileged 
to  see.  Everybody  went  to  it.  When  there  was 
a  sham  fight  with  the  Indians  in  war  paint  and 
feathers,  it  was  to  us  intensely  exciting. 

I  remember  well  one  morning  when  —  I  suppose 
I  was  about  ten  or  eleven  years  old  —  I  was  to  start 
off  alone,  my  brother  being  ill ;  and  as  I  was  delayed 


44 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


by  chores,  the  boys  of  the  neighborhood  had  all 
gone ;  but  I  did  n't  care. 

When  I  had  got  myself  in  order,  my  dear  mother 
gave  me  seven  cents  for  spending  money,  for  ginger- 
bread, buns,  etc.  A  cent  then  was  a  more  puissant 
coin  than  it  is  now  in  such  purchases.  In  giving 
it  she  said  to  me,  "Perhaps,  Cyrus,  you  will  put 
a  cent  or  two  into  the  contribution  box  at  Mrs. 
Farrar's."  ^ 

As  I  was  trudging  along  I  began  to  question. 
Shall  I  drop  in  one  cent  or  two  t  I  wished  mother 
had  n't  said  one  or  two.  I  finally  decided  on  two 
and  felt  satisfied.  Five  cents  would  furnish  all  I 
could  eat  and  more  too  ;  but  after  a  time  conscience 
began  to  torment  me  :  "  Five  for  yourself  and  two 
for  the  heathen  !  Five  for  gingerbread  and  two  for 
souls  !  "  So  I  said  four  for  gingerbread  and  three  for 
souls.  I  could  n't  make  a  firm  stand  there  very 
long,  and  I  said  three  for  gingerbread  and  four  for 
the  souls  of  the  heathen.  I  would  have  drawn  the 
line  there  but  for  my  foolish  pride.  The  boys 
would  find  out  that  I  had  only  three  cents  !  But  I 
was  at  Mrs.  Farrar's  open  door,  and  there  was  the 
contribution  box,  and  I  had  the  seven  cents  in  my 
hand.     I  said,  "  Hang  it  all !     I  '11  dump  them  all  in 

^  Mrs.  Farrar  was  the  handsomest  woman  in  town,  and  it  may  be  the  contribution 
box  profited  by  that  fact.     Week  days  she  kept  it  where  every  one  saw  it 


OUR  FARM  AND   OUR   FARM  LIFE. 


45 


and  have  no  more  bother  about  it."  So  I  did,  and 
went  away  contented. 

I  played  shy  of  the  refreshment  stands ;  and  by 
three  or  four  o'clock  I  had  sated  myself  with  military 
glory  and  made  for  home.  I  had  been  on  my  feet 
from  early  dawn,  with  absolutely  nothing  after  my 
early  breakfast.  I  was  just  as  tired  as  a  little  boy 
could  be  who  had  never  fasted  in  that  way  before. 

I  burst  into  the  house  and  cried  out,  "  Mother, 
I  'm  as  hungry  as  a  bear !  I  have  n't  had  a  mouthful 
to  eat  to-day." 

"  Why,  Cyrus !  have  you  lost  the  money  I  gave 
you  V 

"  No,  mother ;  but  you  did  n't  give  it  to  me  right. 
If  you  had  given  me  eight  cents  or  six  cents,  I  would 
have  divided  it  half  and  half.  But  you  gave  me 
seven.  I  could  n't  divide  it,  and  so  I  dropped  it  all 
in  together." 

"You  poor  boy!"  she  said,  smiling  in  tears;  and 
soon  I  had  such  a  bowl  of  bread  and  milk  as  I  had 
never  eaten,  and  no  monarch  ever  ate.  What  was 
the  meaning  of  mother's  tears } 

I  have  gone  back  to  earlier  life.  Revenons  a  nos 
moutons. 

Our  prospective  harvest  was  always  a  subject  of 
deep    interest    to    us   from    May   to    October.     Our 


46  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

garden  yielded  an  abundance  of  garden  vegetables. 
Our  orchard  gave  us  an  overmeasure  of  apples. 
We  made  from  ten  to  fifteen  barrels  of  cider,  and  put 
forty  bushels  of  selected  apples  into  the  cellar  for 
winter.  The  greenings  and  the  russets  would  sell 
at  fifty  cents  a  bushel  in  the  spring,  the  glorious 
rich  bluepearmains  for  a  dollar.  Our  orchard  had 
an  uncommon  proportion  of  sweet-apple  trees. 
These  apples  were  gathered  separately  for  sweet- 
apple  cider,  to  be  boiled  down  into  apple  molasses 
for  apple  sauce.  With  properly  selected  apples 
the  result  was  delicious.  We  had  a  large  sweet 
apple  which  when  quartered  and  stewed  in  the 
molasses  made  the  most  seductive  condiment 
ever  eaten.  Making  apple  sauce  and  drying  apples 
and  pumpkins  were  busy  household  industries  in  the 
autumn  after  harvest. 

We  cultivated  from  four  to  five  acres  every  year 
with  the  plow.  The  chief  divisions  were  one  acre 
each  of  potatoes,  corn,  and  wheat.  The  rye,  oats, 
fiax,  and  buckwheat  claimed  the  rest.  Nothing  can 
exceed  the  beauty  of  the  fields  of  flax  in  blossom. 
That  glory  has  passed  away  from  New  England.  In 
my  day  our  summer  clothes  were  of  homemade 
linen  cloth.  Its  worst  trait  was  it  would  never  wear 
out ;  we  had  to  outgrow  it.  If  we  harvested  two  hun- 
dred bushels  of  potatoes,  twenty  bushels  of  wheat, 


OUR  FARM  AND    OUR   FARM  LIFE,  47 

thirty  bushels  of  corn  (shelled),  twelve  to  fifteen  of 
rye,  twenty  of  oats;  and  peas,  beans,  and  buckwheat 
for  table  use,  we  considered  ourselves  well  supplied. 
We  changed  into  money,  at  Portland  chiefly,  butter, 
cheese,  a  fatted  hog,  oats,  beans,  and  nothing  else 
that  I  can  think  of.  Occasionally  we  had  a  colt  to 
sell,  or  a  pair  of  steers. 

At  length  there  came  up  the  practical  question, 
What  shall  the  younger  boy  do  ?  The  farm  was 
enough  for  one,  but  not  enough  for  two.  Our  other 
farm  had  been  sold  for  a  thousand  dollars,  and  any- 
how it  was  too  stony  and  wet  to  be  thought  of  for 
the  youngster.  A  part  of  the  price  had  been  trans- 
muted into  the  education  of  my  sisters.  But  the 
farm  right  opposite  could  be  had  for  a  thousand  dol- 
lars ;  and  mother  had  five  hundred  dollars  ready  for 
the  first  payment.  It  would  be  a  most  delightful 
future  to  my  dear  widowed  mother  to  have  her  two 
sons  always  close  by  her  side. 

But  our  faithful  physican,  Dr.  Gage,  wise  and 
excellent,  said,  "  No.  The  boy  does  not  grow.  He 
has  not  grown  any  for  three  year-s.  Farm  work  will 
kill  him.  Give  him  an  education."  That  was  im- 
possible on  account  of  the  expense.  Besides,  I  liked 
the  idea  of  being  a  farmer.  It  was  finally  agreed 
that  I  should  become  a  silversmith  and  jeweler  in 
the  establishment  of  my  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Charles 


48  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Farley,  of  Portland.  My  mother  sacrificed  her  heart's 
desire  without  a  tear,  unless  shed  in  secret. 

*•  I  would  have  been  so  happy  to  have  you  here, 
Cyrus ;  but  I  see  it  is  best  for  you  to  go  to  Portland, 
and  you  will  be  with  your  sister  Rebecca ;  but  for 
that  I  could  not  let  you  go." 

I  suppose  my  mother  had  something  of  that  self- 
ishness that  belongs  to  humanity,  but  her  children 
never  saw  anything  of  it.  At  her  funeral,  her  old 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Lincoln  Ripley,  remarked,  "I  can 
say  of  our  departed  sister  what  I  have  been  able  to 
say  of  very  few ;  that  now,  standing  by  her  coflfin,  I 
can  testify  that  in  an  acquaintance  of  forty  years  I 
never  heard  her  say  a  thing  that  I  could  wish  had 
been  differently  said,  and  never  heard  of  her  doing  a 
thing  that  I  could  wish  had  been  differently  done." 

It  was  agreed  that  I  should  keep  my  sixteenth 
birthday  at  home,  January  5,  1827,  and  then  depart 
for  my  new  sphere  of  preparation  for  life's  battle. 
There  was  a  sadness  in  it  all,  and  yet  enough  of 
hope  to  cheer  us  all.  Both  the  daughters  were  hap- 
pily married,  and  now  one  of  the  two  sons  would  go. 
A  mother's  love  was  equal  to  it,  and  what  was  done 
was  done  cheerfully.  Hannibal  and  I  had  never  been 
separated.  I  had  never  slept  from  under  the  ma- 
ternal roof  but  one  night.  To  me  the  change  would 
be  great. 


OUR  FARM  AND    OUR  FARM  LIFE.  49 

But  at  length  the  eventful  day  came.  The  trunk 
was  packed,  the  sleigh  loaded  with  such  things  as 
we  had  for  the  market,  —  Hannibal  and  I  were  to 
add  ourselves  to  the  load,  —  and  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning  we  were  to  start  and  join  Major  Stone  and 
Mr.  Amos  Saunders  for  the  cold  winter  journey  of 
forty  miles  to  Portland.  The  last  day  at  home 
dragged  heavily  with  us  all.  It  was  more  of  an 
event  than  the  starting  for  a  voyage  round  the 
world  would  now  be.  But  night  came  and  the  last 
thing  was  to  feed  the  old  mare,  that  she  might  need 
the  less  time  for  eating  in  the  morning. 

Our  cousin  Almira  Hamlin  was  with  us,  and  she 
remained  with  mother  for  years,  a  great  blessing  to 
us  all.  She  was  up  betimes,  and  a  rousing  fire 
warmed  our  benumbed  fingers  as  we  came  down 
from  a  chamber  that  seemed  to  import  cold  for 
special  use.  A  dry  northeast  snowstorm  was  on, 
and  it  was  intensely  cold.  Mother  was  sure  the 
other  parties  would  not  start,  and  knowing  our  stiff- 
neckedness  to  carry  out  anything  we  began,  she 
made  us  promise  to  turn  back  and  not  push  on  alone 
if  they  should  not  go. 

With  hearts  ready  to  break  we  parted,  with  New 
England  reserve  and  self-possession.  Such  expe- 
riences always  nerved  the  New  Englander  up  to  the 
quality  of  tempered  steel.     The  only  part  bordering 


50 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 


on  pathos  was  when  my  mother,  with  a  tremor  in 
her  voice,  gave,  me  a  Bible  and  asked  me  to  read  it 
every  day.  And  then  I  sHpped  out  to  the  barn  to 
bid  my  dumb  friends  farewell  with  a  "  lantern  dimly 
burning."  I  kissed  the  noble  oxen  and  the  favorite 
cows  —  those  good,  virtuous,  heavenly-minded  cows  — 
a  sad  farewell.  I  never  confessed  that  weakness 
until  I  was  old  enough  to  defend  it.  And  thus  my 
farm  life  closed. 

Our  friends  concluded  to  go,  and  we  pushed  on 
together.  It  was  a  day  of  no  ordinary  suffering. 
The  cold  was  intense,  the  traveling  heavy.  Our 
party  put  up  at  a  town,  seven  miles  out  from  Port- 
land, but  we  rash  boys  refused  to  stop,  cold,  weary, 
hungry  as  we  were.  It  was  do  or  die.  We  could 
surely  reach  Portland  in  two  hours  —  it  took  us  more 
than  three.  During  the  ride  a  new  anxiety  seized 
us  which  made  us  forget  ourselves  :  the  old  mare 
might  give  out  and  lie  down  and  die.  When  at 
length  we  reached  the  great  city  of  twelve  or  fifteen 
thousand  inhabitants,  we  began  to  inquire  for  Moore's 
hotel,  which  was  our  objectif.  It  was  near  nine 
o'clock.  We  had  been  sixteen  hours  on  the  road. 
This  and  that  one  knew  of  no  such  hotel,  but  finally 
we  met  a  man  who  stopped  and  told  us  very  kindly, 
"Turn  to  your  left  at  the  third  street  from  here  and 
you  will  come  right  upon  it."     The  first  street  we 


OUR  FARM  AND    OUR    FARM  LIFE. 


51 


passed  was  so  narrow  we  said,  "  That  is  a  lane,  not 
a  street ;  "  and  we  did  not  count  it.  But  when  we 
had  passed  four  or  five  and  only  one  of  them  was 
broad  enough  to  be  called  a  street,  we  inquired 
again.  ''Turn  right  about,  boys,  and  the  second 
street  at  your  right  is  the  one ;  and  Moore's  hotel  is 
close  by." 

At  length  we  were  there  and  all  our  troubles  were 
at  an  end. 

We  told  the  hostler  of  our  long  journey  and  of  our 
anxieties.  We  begged  him  to  take  good  care  of  our 
horse  (we  changed  her  designation)  and  cover  him 
warm  and  give  him  a  good  bedding.  For  answer  he 
said,  ''Go  and  take  care  of  yourselves,  boys,  and 
I'll  take  care  of  your  old  mare." 

Mr.  Farley's  house  was  perhaps  two  minutes'  walk 
away.  It  was  nearly  ten  o'clock,  and  we  had  been 
at  least  eighteen  hours  on  the  qui  vive.  It  was  not 
in  human  nature  not  to  be  tired.  Mr.  Farley  and 
Rebecca  were  sitting  up  before  a  bright  anthracite 
fire  in  an  open  grate.  We  had  never  seen  either 
before.  They  were  amazed  to  see  us.  They  won- 
dered we  had  not  perished.  We  were  warmed  and 
filled,  and  then  went  to  bed  in  an  awfully  nice  and 
cold  room.  We  trembled  and  shivered  for  half  an 
hour,  but  we  had  always  slept  in  a  cold  room  if  there 
was  any  cold  about.     We  were  well  covered,  and  we 


52  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

awoke  in  the  morning  warm  and  refreshed.  We  ate 
a  good  breakfast,  and  then  we  sallied  out  to  see  the 
great  and  wondrous  city. 

My  farm  life  had  closed;  and   now  my  life  as  a 
mechanic  in  a  city  was  to  begin. 


CHAPTER  III. 

APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND. 

OUR  first  visit  after  breakfast  and  prayer  was  of 
course  to  the  stable. 

We  were  delighted  to  find  the  old  mare  in  good 
order,  and  she  saluted  us  with  a  whinny,  as  much  as 
to  say,  "  I  'm  glad  to  see  you,  boys."  We  took  our 
load  and  our  orders  to  Mr.  Burbank,  a  true  and 
honest  man,  and  the  business  part  of  my  brother's 
visit  was  soon  disposed  of.  Mr.  Burbank  had  failed 
twenty  years  before,  owing  my  father  $17.  He  now 
brought  up  the  matter  so  long  forgotten,  and  never 
known  to  my  mother,  and  said  she  could  draw  upon 
him  for  that  amount.  He  was  again  prosperous. 
The  message  affected  my  mother  deeply.  It  seemed 
to  come  from  her  departed  husband  ;  for  Mr.  Bur- 
bank said  he  was  such  a  kind,  just,  and  honorable 
man  that  he  enjoyed  paying  this  debt  to  his  widow. 
She  exclaimed  :  ^'  A  score  of  known  debts  remain 
unpaid,  but  here  the  payment  of  an  unknown  debt  is 
freely  offered." 

Our  business  done,  and  the  horse  returned  to  the 
stable,  we  sallied  out  to  see  the  wonders.     Of  course 


54 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


we  made  our  way  to  the  wharves  to  see  the  ships. 
We  could  pick  out  the  ship,  with  three  masts  and 
square  rigged,  and  we  could  distinguish  the  brig,  the 
schooner,  and  the  sloop.  But '  what  interested  us 
above  all  things  was  a  vessel  on  "the  ways."  At 
high  water,  a  man  told  us,  it  had  been  floated  on  to 
the  cradle,  and  kept  there  while  the  sea  retired- 
Then  the  cable  from  the  cradle  was  wound  round  the 
capstan,  and  a  horse  was  set  agoing  to  draw  the 
vessel  up  on  those  rails  called  "  the  ways."  We 
watched  it  for  a  long  time ;  the  horse  went  round 
and  round,  a  boy  following  at  his  heels,  and  the 
vessel  moved  so  slowly  that  we  despaired  of  the 
operation.  The  horse  must  walk  miles  to  move  the 
vessel  a  rod.  But  then  there  was  no  noise  and  no 
hurry.  There  was  a  lazy  boy  whistling  along  and 
striking  the  horse  only  when  he  proposed  to  stop. 
We  had  seen  an  empty  barn  moved  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  by  a  hundred  yoke  of  oxen  with  "  hollerin'," 
swearing,  drinking,  breaking  of  chains  till  pande- 
monium seemed  let  loose.  Here  were  a  boy  and  a 
horse  moving  a  ship  on  to  dry  land  without  noise. 
It  was  in  our  view  the  greatest  thing  we  had  seen 
in  Portland. 

The  next  morning  my  brother  started  late  for 
home,  as  he  designed  to  go  but  little  more  than  half- 
way that  day.     He  had  had  quite  enough  of  putting 


APPRENTICE  LIFE   IN  PORTLAND.  55 

the  journey  through  at  one  pull  in  heavy  traveling. 
So  we  separated,  who  had  never  been  separated 
before.  We  had  thought  aloud  to  each  other  and 
kept  nothing  back.  Now  our  paths  diverged.  He 
pursued  his  education  a  good  deal  by  himself.  He 
studied  mathematics  and  became  a  skillful  surveyor. 
He  was  very  conscientious  and  independent.  He 
dared  to  do  right.  In  this  respect  he  often  toned 
me  up.     Our  brotherhood  was  perfect  unto  the  end. 

After  he  had  gone  I  entered  the  silversmith  and 
jewelry  shop.  There  were  three  apprentices.  Wil- 
liam Haskins  was  from  my  native  place  and  from  an 
honored  and  beloved  family.  He  was  just  complet- 
ing his  apprenticeship.  He  was  a  man  of  wonderful 
skill  and  taste  in  his  art.  There  were  also  Thomas 
Hammond,  who  had  still  a  year  to  serve,  and  Edward 
Baker,  who  was  in  every  way  a  pleasant,  intelligent 
fellow  and  a  good  workman. 

For  a  month  or  two  I  was  miserable.  I  was  timid 
and  bashful.  I  seemed  to  myself  to  make  no  pro- 
gress in  acquiring  that  skill  which  the  others  had  and 
which  came  so  natural  to  them.  "  Don't  hurry. 
Learn  to  do  a  thing  well,  and  then  learn  to  do  it 
fast,"  was  a  law  of  the  shop  which  was  of  great 
advantage  to  me. 

When  at  length,  in  addition  to  silver  sleeve  but- 
tons, which  had  a  great  sale,  and  to  mounting  hair 


56 


A/V  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


necklaces  and  wristlets,  I  could  make  a  good  silver 
spoon,  my  happy  days  began  to  shine.  I  could  make 
spoons  with  any  of  them.  Mr.  Farley  encouraged 
me  to  make  myself  acquainted  with  every  part  of 
the  trade,  and  when  I  should  finish,  at  twenty-one, 
we  would  form  a  partnership  and  go  in  for  importing 
jewelry  and  military  goods.  I  should  go  to  Europe, 
to  Geneva  and  Paris  ;  and  we  could  not  fail  to  do 
well.     To  me  it  seemed  a  great  and  brilliant  future. 

One  of  the  boys  boasted  that  he  had  taken  so 
many  ounces  of  silver  in  the  morning  and  delivered 
five  well-finished  tablespoons  at  night.  I  said  I 
could  do  the  same,  at  which  they  laughed  ;  but  Mr. 
Farley  gave  me  the  silver  and  let  me  try  it.  I 
did  it,  and  the  work  was  pronounced  good.  Three 
spoons  of  that  weight  were  a  journeyman's  day's 
work.  They  did  n't  see  where  my  little  arm  got  the 
muscle  for  that  day's  work,  for  spoon-making  was 
then  the  work  of  the  right  arm.  It  is  now  done  by 
machinery,  and  a  man  will  turn  out  some  dozens  in  a 
day.  The  fibres  of  the  muscle  had  been  twisted 
together  on  the  farm,  and  by  constitution  I  had  the 
quality  of  toughness.  My  father  is  said  to  have  had 
it  before  me. 

After  Haskins  left  to  go  into  business  for  himself, 
a  new  apprentice  by  the  name  of  Cutter  entered. 
Remembering  my  own  trials,   I  befriended    him   all 


APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND. 


57 


I  could  ;  but  heedlessness  was  inborn  in  him  and 
could  not  be  eradicated ;  otherwise  he  could  have 
made  a  man.  He  broke  more  things  in  one  month 
than  all  the  rest  had  done  in  their  entire  apprentice- 
ship.    The  following  is  a  specimen  :  — 

Mr.  Fa.rley  sent  him  for  a  large  pane  of  glass  for 
a  showcase.  He  had  hardly  twenty  steps  to  bring 
it,  but  he  broke  it.  He  was  sent  for  another,  and  he 
broke  that.  *'  I  will  buy  the  third  with  my  own 
money ; "  and  he  entered  the  shop  triumphantly  with 
the  last,  and  holding  it  up  he  began  to  explain  how 
he  came  to  break  the  second  ;  and  the  third  fell 
smash  !  upon  the  floor  with  a  shout  from  the  shop. 

That  was  Cutter  —  an  intelligent  fellow  too.  The 
last  I  heard  of  him  he  had  become  a  sailor. 

The  next  was  Kibby  Dodge.  He  would  do  well 
as  a  workman,  but  he  was  too  fond  of  amusements ; 
and  he  purloined  money  from  the  money  drawer,  and 
when  he  was  caught  he  confessed  he  had  done  it 
many  times.     Of  course  he  departed. 

The  next  was  Francis  Edmands,  a  dear,  good  fel- 
low of  gentle  nature  and,  I  think,  a  true  Christian. 
He  and  I  had  a  bedroom  in  one  corner  of  the  mili- 
tary goods'  room  on  the  second  story.  We  slept 
there  as  a  guard  against  burglars.  Poor  Francis  was 
so  nervous  that  he  thought  every  noise  of  the  rats 
was  made  by  burglars,  and  he  woke  me  so  often  that 


58  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

I  begged  Mr.  Farley  to  let  him  sleep  at  home.  I 
preferred  to  guard  the  shop  alone.  I  was  well  armed, 
and  I  felt  sure  I  could  disperse  any  number  of  bur- 
glars with  ball  and  buckshot.  It  was  perhaps  not 
wholly  safe, though,  against  all  contingencies,  that  a 
boy  should  sleep  guard  on  that  great  block,  no  one 
being  within  call ;  but  I  was  proud  of  my  marksman- 
ship and  thought  it  brave  to  take  the  risk.  After 
six  or  eight  months'  guard,  having  neither  shot  my- 
self nor  anybody  else,  I  was  withdrawn  from  the 
post,  undoubtedly  through  my  sister's  influence. 

I  became  intimately  acquainted  with  a  few  appren- 
tices of  my  age,  and  our  friendship  rerriained  till 
death  separated  us,  Adams,  Ilsley,  Colesworthy, 
Stackpole  were  true,  unselfish,  genial  fellows ;  they 
became  true  Christian  men  and  fought  the  good 
fight.  Colesworthy  alone  remains  at  this  writing 
—  1893. 

In  the  progress  of  my  work  I  remember  things 
that  occurred  to  test  my  mechanical  faculty.  An 
apprentice  may,  by  dint  of  practice,  make  a  few 
things  well,  and  yet  not  be  a  mechanic.  I  was  am- 
bitious to  be  a  real  mechanic. 

Early  one  morning  Pascal  Brooks,  a  very  excellent 
and  popular  young  dry-goods  merchant,  called  with 
the  broken  key  of  his  store.  One  half  the  nib  was 
broken  off  in  the  lock.     I  said  to  him  :  "  I  will  cast 


APPRENTICE   LIFE   IN  PORTLAND. 


59 


a  brass  key  with  a  solid  nib,  and  then  saw  and  file 
out  the  wards.*'  He  was  incredulous,  but  let  me  try. 
It  was  half  done  when  Mr.  Farley  came,  and  he  said, 
"  Go  on  and  finish  it."  I  went  with  Mr.  Brooks  to 
try  it.  It  opened  the  door  with  perfect  ease,  and 
my  triumph  was  great. 

One  day  at  noon,  while  all  were  gone  to  dinner, 
and  I  attended  to  the  sales  store,  as  the  youngest 
apprentice,  a  countryman  came  in  with  a  bruised 
and  battered  silver  watch  to  sell  the  case  for  old 
silver.  I  took  out  the  movement,  and  weighed  it, 
and  paid  him  a  dollar  and  a  half  and  gave  him  back 
the  movement,  telling  him  it  was  of  no  value  to  us. 
"  Neither  is  it  to  me,"  he  said,  and  left.  I  was  going- 
to  throw  it  into  the  box  of  broken  things  when  I 
noticed  the  peculiar  brilliancy  and  finish  of  the 
inside  work.  When  Mr.  Titcomb,  the  watch  re- 
pairer, came  in,  I  showed  it  to  him  and  said  :  *'  Is 
this  good  for  anything } "  He  examined  it  very 
critically,  and  said  he  never  saw  nicer  work.  He 
would  put  in  a  mainspring  and  try  it,  adding,  "  But 
if  you  have  a  dollar  and  a  half  of  your  commissions 
on  collecting  bills,  pay  it  back  into  the  money 
drawer  and  take  out  that  old  battered  case.  Who 
knows  but  you  may  have  a  watch  ! "  When  Mr. 
Farley  came  in,  I  told  him.  He  looked  at  it  and 
laughed   and  said  :    "■  You    have  your  evenings  nov.7 


6o  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

and  you  may  have  Saturday  afternoon  to  see  what 
you  can  make  of  it."  Mr.  Titcomb  very  kindly  put 
it  in  order,  and,  after  a  week's  trial,  declared  that  no 
watch  living  could  run  better  than  that.  It  did  not 
vary  from  the  regulator  by  one  second  a  day.  '*  If 
that  countryman  should  ever  turn  up,  you  must  tell 
him,"  he  said.  **  I  think  it  is  a  rare  watch.  If  now 
you  can  do  anything  with  that  case,  you  will  not 
only  have  a  watch  of  your  own,  but  one  of  the 
very  best." 

The  only  very  difficult  thing  was  the  rim  that  held 
the  glass.  I  must  make  a  new  one.  If  I  should  suc- 
ceed in  that,  could  I  solder  on  the  hinges  and  make 
neat  and  perfect  work  there  }  I  succeeded  perfectly ! 
I  found  in  the  waste  box  an  old  seal  and  key  which 
I  polished  up  ;  my  sister  gave  me  a  black  ribbon ; 
and  my  fob  had  a  perfect  watch.  Marks  of  bad 
treatment  remained  upon  the  case  which  I  could 
not  remedy,  but  I  had  as  good  a  watch  for  time  as 
any  gentleman  in  Portland.  Farther  on  I  shall  tell 
how  I  came  to  part  with  it  and  my  fruitless  efforts 
to  recover  it.     It  had  a  history. 

Before  this  I  had  been  tried  by  fire.  Mr.  Farley 
brought  me  a  heavy  bag  of  Mexican  dollars  and 
said,  "  There  is  twenty  or  twenty-five  per  cent  of 
alloy  in  these  dollars.  Take  the  largest  smelting  pot. 
It  will  take  eight  or  ten  ounces  at  a  time,  and  you 


APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND.  6 1 

may  have  the  week  to  do  it  in.  .  What  time  you  gain 
will  be  your  own." 

I  was  glad  of  the  chance.  I  was  sure  I  could  do 
it  in  three  days.  I  hardly  finished  it  in  five,  but  I 
learned  just  what  the  work  was,  and  that  was  my 
master's  object.  I  also  gained  a  very  impressive 
illustration  of  the  meaning  of  Mai.  3:3:  "  He  shall 
sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier,"  etc.  When  the  process 
was  complete  the  melted  mass  in  the  fining  pot 
retained  a  brilliant  surface  that  perfectly  reflected 
my  face  when  I  looked  into  it.  No  alloy  remained 
to  form  an  oxide  and  obscure  the  brilliancy. 

So  far  as  my  trade  was  concerned,  I  was  indus- 
trious and  contented.  I  had  gained  confidence  in 
myself.  When  my  five  years  should  be  finished  I 
would  be  ready  to  launch  out  into  business. 

As  a  salesman  my  pride  had  a  terrible  fall.  I  had 
often  made  important  sales  while  alone  in  the  store 
at  noontime.  Mr.  Farley  complimented  me  on  it. 
One  day  a  man  called,  dressed  as  a  minister.  He 
was  in  a  chaise,  and  I  saw  him  hitching  his  horse  at 
the  post.  He  wanted  to  look  at  our  tableware.  He 
bought  a  nice  britannia  coffeepot  at  five  dollars, 
gave  me  a  ten-dollar  bill,  and  I  gave  him  five  in 
exchange.  When  Mr.  Farley  came  in  he  found  that 
the  ten-dollar  bill  was  from  a  "  busted "  bank  and 
not  worth  a   cent,  as  I  might   have  found   if  I   had 


62  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

looked  over  the  bank  list.  No  trace  of  the  pur- 
chaser could  be  found.  Some  had  seen  him  getting 
in  and  out  of  his  chaise  and  thought  him  a  country- 
minister.  He  stopped  at  no  hotel.  He  carried  off 
a  coffeepot  and  five  dollars,  to  my  great  humiliation. 
It  is  the  only  time  I  have  been  cheated  by  a  minis- 
terial dress. 

I  have  purposely  deferred  all  mention  of  my  reli- 
gious experience,  in  order  to  take  it  up  by  itself. 
My  brother  and  sister  Farley  were  members  of 
Dr.  Edward  Payson's  church,  and  of  course  I  went 
to  church  with  them.  Dr.  Payson  was  physically 
wrecked,  but  not  mentally  or  spiritually.  He 
preached  occasionally  in  the  forenoon,  but  always 
attended  his  Bible-class  in  the  afternoon.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  spiritual  power  of  his  sermons  was  the 
deep  sympathy  felt  by  his  people  with  their  dying 
pastor  in  his  heroic  battle  with  disease.  The  leg 
of  one  side  and  the  arm  of  the  other  being  paralyzed, 
he  could  not  use  crutches,  and  one  side  was  supported 
by  a  man  whenever  he  moved  about.  He  went  up 
the  broad  aisle  leaning  heavily  on  Deacon  Coe,  his 
face  indicating  a  sculptured  fixedness  from  his  con- 
stant, firm  endurance  of  great  suffering.  His  thus 
passing  along  would  melt  some  to  tears.  His  serv- 
ices in  the  pulpit  brought  life  and  power  into  his 


APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND. 


63 


voice  and  bearing.  His  farewell  to  his  pulpit  was  so 
tender  and  solemn  that  few  eyes  were  dry.  I  saw 
the  tears  fall  from  one  who  I  supposed  was  a 
"  graceless  "  young  man. 

In  this  farewell  he  expressed  his  wish  to  continue 
his  Bible-class  as  long  as  possible.  As  he  had  been 
informed  that  many  were  turned  away  every  Sunday 
because  they  could  not  obtain  admission,  he  would 
ask  all  his  church  members  to  refrain  from  coming. 
The  exercise  was  expressly  for  those  who  were  not 
church  members,  many  of  whom  were  excluded  for 
want  of  space. 

I  had  become  deeply  interested  in  that  service. 
He  made  Bible  truth  so  clear,  and  brought  it  so  for- 
cibly home  to  our  own  thoughts  and  experiences 
that  it  was  impossible  not  to  be  interested.  I  was 
always  there  betimes  and  nearly  in  the  same  place. 
But,  I  thought,  if  my  presence  forces  some  one  to 
be  absent,  I  ought  not  to  go ;  and  so  I  did  n't.  What 
was  my  surprise  when  a  member  of  the  church, 
Monday  morning,  came  to  me  and  said  Dr.  Payson 
wished  to  know  why  I  was  absent,  and  if  I  misun- 
derstood what  he  said  from  the  pulpit.  I  told  him 
frankly  how  it  was.  He  said  Dr.  Payson  wanted  I 
should  feel  that  his  remark  was  to  secure  me  and 
others  like  me  a  place,  and  he  hoped  I  would  return. 
That  Dr.  Payson  should  think  of  me,  a  little  bashful 


64  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

country  boy,  made  a  deeper  impression  than  any 
sermon  could  have  made. 

The  next  Sunday  I  was  in  my  usual  seat  before 
the  crowd  came  in.  The  vestry  was  soon  filled  to 
the  utmost.  Dr.  Payson  came  in,  leaning  heavily 
on  Deacon  Coe.  The  room  was  a  long  one  for  its 
width ;  the  desk  was  on  the  middle  of  the  right-hand 
side.  He  was  helped  to  his  seat,  and  first  of  all  he 
wiped  from  his  face  the  sweat  which  the  painful 
exertion  had  caused.  The  complexion  of  his  face 
was  dead,  but  dark  rather  than  pale,  the  muscles 
motionless  and  appearing  to  be  carved  out  of  walnut, 
resulting,  I  imagine,  from  constant,  firm,  heroic  resist- 
ance to  intense  pain.  When  he  had  taken  breath 
he  turned  his  eyes  to  the  right  and  then  swept  round 
over  the  whole  audience,  probably  seeing  every 
individual  in  it.  When  he  came  round  to  his  left 
his  eye  seemed  to  rest  on  me.  My  eyes  fell,  but 
when  I  looked  again  he  seemed  to  be  still  looking 
right  at  me.  The  probability  is  that  a  severe  access 
of  pain  had  fixed  an  unconscious  look.  Intended 
or  not,  it  went  through  my  very  soul.  It  said  to 
me,  "■  Poor  country  boy !  have  you  come  to  this  city 
to  be  lost  or  saved  } " 

Before  the  singing  of  the  hymn,  he  remarked  that 
two  modest  strangers  had  misapprehended  what  he 
said  from  the  pulpit,  and  were  absent  last  Sunday. 


APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND.  65 

He  was  glad  to  see  them  there  again,  and  he  hoped 
if  any  others  had  received  a  wrong  impression,  they 
would  return.  That  I  was  one  of  the  two  I  cannot 
doubt.     Who  the  other  was  I  never  knew. 

After  a  few  Sabbaths,  a  stranger  took  his  place, 
and  announced  that  Dr.  Payson  would  never  leave 
his  house  again,  and  was  waiting  with  a  hope  full  of 
immortality  to  lay  aside  his  suffering  body.  He 
lingered  long,  with  great  sufferings,  but  with  refresh- 
ing visions  of  the  coming  glory. 

Albert  Titcomb,  the  watch  repairer  whom  I  have 
mentioned,  in  the  revival  which  accompanied  and 
followed  Dr.  Payson's  death  became  very  deeply 
impressed"  with  the  conviction  that  he  was  a  lost 
sinner.  He  awoke  as  one  surprised  by  a  danger 
always  near,  never  before  felt ;  but  when  he  knew 
clearly  the  great  truth  that  Christ  is  our  salvation, 
that  in  him  is  eternal  safety,  out  of  him  eternal  ruin, 
he  accepted  him  with  inexpressible  joy.  The  change 
in  him  was  a  transformation  that  no  one  could  fail  to 
notice. 

I  followed  later  and  with  a  slower  pace.  He  joined 
the  church  months  before  I  did.  But  he  was  a  great 
help  to  me  all  along  the  way.  I  wanted  some  won- 
derful overpowering  influence  that  should  carry  me 
right  along.  My  friend  Horatio  Ilsley  went  with  me 
in  about  the  same  experience.     We  joined  the  church 


66  ^K  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

together,  May  6,  1828,  a  year  and  four  months  after 
I  reached  Portland.  My  brother  about  the  same 
time  joined  the  church  in  Waterford,  and  the  close- 
ness of  our  union  was  only  made  the  closer. 

Soon  after  I  came  to  Portland,  my  reading  took 
a  religious  turn.  I  felt  little  interest  in  other  books. 
I  read  faithfully  the  Journal  of  the  F'ranklin  Insti- 
tute, in  Philadelphia,  and  kept  abreast  of  new  inven- 
tions, but  beyond  that  I  can  remember  almost  no- 
thing of  that  kind.  I  studied  the  Bible  as  a  new 
book.  Doddridge's  Expositor  and  the  Comprehensive 
Commentary  were  valuable  assistants.  But  I  fell  in 
with  Edwards'  History  of  Redemption.  It  quite  took 
possession  of  me.  I  read  it  through  and  said,  *'  Now 
I  understand  history."  The  great  events  of  the 
world  all  have  reference  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
God  is  in  all  human  history,  and  the  movements  of 
the  nations  are  under  his  control,  and  will  be  so 
until  the  millennial  days.  My  reading  thenceforth 
took  its  shaping  from  this  view  of  history.  I  read 
everything  of  Edwards  I  could  get  hold  of.  Watts 
on  The  Mind  was  another  book  of  great  use  to  me, 
in  leading  to  a  more  methodical  cultivation  of  my 
own  faculties.  I  can  hardly  remember  when  I  last 
saw  the  book,  but  it  is  full  of  good  sense,  and  in  its 
day  was  preeminently  useful.  I  doubt  whether  a 
copy  can  now  be  found  without  great  search. 


APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND. 


6^ 


About  the  time  Ilsley  and  I  were  thinking  of 
joining  the  church,  we  were  invited  to  join  a  society 
of  young  men  for  religious  improvement.  It  met 
every  week  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  members,  all 
young  men,  about  half  of  them  married.  One  ob- 
ject, and  that  which  contributed  perhaps  to  hold 
them  together,  was  the  payment  to  the  secretary  by 
each  one  of  half  a  dollar  a  week  toward  the  educa- 
tion of  Edward  Payson,  Jr.,  in  Bowdoin  College. 
Eminent  as  Dr.  Payson  was,  and  repeatedly  invited 
to  Boston  and  to  New  York,  he  placed  no  value 
upon  money  beyond  its  present  use,  and  the  expenses 
of  his  son's  education  would  have  been  very  heavy 
upon  his  resources.  This  object  of  the  association 
was  kept  private,  and  probably  Edward  himself  never 
knew  of  it.  In  this  respect  Ilsley  and  I  were  honor- 
ary members,  but  we  had  to  take  our  turn  in  leading 
in  prayer.  This  was  "taking  up  our  cross,"  but  we 
knew  it  was  good  for  us.  It  was  a  very  great  kind- 
ness and  a  true  Christian  interest  in  us  that  led  those 
noble  brethren  to  take  into  their  companionship  the 
two  boys  Horatio  and  Cyrus.  It  was  a  most  excel- 
lent school  to  us.  It  made  us  both  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  although  the  thought  then  never  came  into 
our  minds. 

The  first  half  hour  was  social,  the  conversation 
being  directed  to  the  interests  of   the  church,   the 


68  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Sunday-school,  or  any  object  of  Christian  work. 
Then  a  prayer  was  offered,  and  the  person  appointed 
read  the  passage  selected  and  made  his  brief  gen- 
eral remarks,  after  which  every  one,  even  the  two 
boys,  had  a  word  to  say  or  a  question  to  ask.  At 
nine  o'clock  a  brief  prayer  closed  the  evening.  It 
was  the  meeting  we  looked  forward  to  more  than 
any  other.  We  used  to  have  fifteen  to  twenty  at 
a  meeting ;  the  membership  I  do  not  know.  Some 
of  the  members  I  recollect  perfectly  well  by  name  : 
Isaac  Smith,  John  Smith,  William  Cutter,  David 
Cutter,  Eben  Steele,  Erastus  Hayes,  Albert  Tit- 
comb,  John  Codman,  Pascal  Brooks,  Oliver  Dor- 
rance.  Baker,  etc.  Sixty-four  years  is  a  great  effacer 
of  names.  Titcomb  and  I  are  the  only  ones  now 
living,  I  in  my  eighty-third  year,  he  in  his  ninety- 
second.  They  were  all  noble  and  useful  Christian 
men.  I  hold  them  in  dear  remembrance.  Thus  life 
moved  on  in  happy  earnestness,  both  in  the  shop 
and  out. 

In  the  winter  of  1828-29,  an  apprentices'  even- 
ing school  was  opened  in  one  of  the  city  school- 
houses.  Master  Libby  and  Master  Jackson  were  in 
it,  and  there  was  a  large  corps  of  volunteer  teachers. 
It  gathered  seventy  apprentices,  who  were  regular 
attendants  to  the  close.  The  irregulars  were  dis- 
missed.    Some  of  the   volunteer  teachers  were  de- 


APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND.  69 

cided  characters.  Ben  Fernald,  the  soap  boiler,  was 
almost  a  genius.  Vain  and  self-important,  he  was 
indefatigable,  unselfish,  and  an  admirable  teacher. 
Mr.  Green  taught  my  division  grammar.  He  was  an 
excellent  teacher  and  full  of  enthusiasm.  There 
were  two  other  teachers  whose  persons  I  recall,  but 
their  names }  Colesworthy  would  give  them ;  he 
remembers  everything. 

In  joining  this  school  I  had  one  difficulty.  I  kept 
the  sales  store  while  the  rest  went  to  supper.  When 
they  returned  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  go  to 
supper  and  be  at  the  evening  school  in  time.  I 
resolved  to  sacrifice  my  supper,  or  rather  to  defer  it 
to  twenty  minutes  past  nine  —  the  earliest  minute  I 
could  get  home  after  school.  It  was  not  a  good 
thing  to  do,  but  it  did  not  hurt  me,  because  I  did  it 
willingly.  Had  I  been  forced  to  do  it,  I  would  have 
denounced  it  as  cruel  and  outrageous. 

Curious  coincidences  come  to  us  in  life.  One 
evening  as  I  was  going  with  swift  steps  to  the 
school,  I  repeated  from  Proverbs,  "  Seest  thou  a  man 
diligent  in  his  business,  he  shall  stand  before  kings, 
he  shall  not  stand  before  mean  men."  **  Now,"  said 
I,  "  that  is  not  literally  true.  I  am  certainly  diligent 
in  business,  but  I  shall  never  stand  before  a  king. 
We  have  no  kings."  Nineteen  years  after,  this 
little    incident    came    to    mind    as    I    was    talking 


70 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


with  the  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid,  in  his  palace  on 
the  Bosphorus. 

A  few  weeks  before  the  close  of  the  term,  which 
must  have  been  in  March,  two  prizes,  a  first  and 
second,  were  offered  for  the  best  essay  on  Profane 
Swearing.  My  sister  Rebecca  encouraged  me  to 
write  for  it.  **But,  Rebecca,"  I  said,  "you  know  I 
never  wrote  anything,  and  there  are  seventy  boys, 
some  of  them  studying  geometry  and  navigation. 
I  should  appear  ridiculous."  But  she  insisted  that 
as  a  Christian  boy  I  ought  to  write  against  that 
prevalent  sin  of  young  men,  and  as  a  duty  I  yielded. 
We  were  to  hand  them  in  on  a  certain  evening,  and 
when  sixteen  fellows  went  up  I  would  gladly  have 
withholden  mine.  The  first  prize  was  a  silver  pen 
with  ivory  handle  and  cap,  the  other  was  a  book. 
Three  evenings  before  closing,  Master  Jackson  called 
for  attention  and  said,  '*  Let  every  contestant  for 
the  prize  be  prepared  to  read  his  paper  in  a  clear, 
manly  voice,  without  a  hem  or  a  haw.  This  can 
only  be  done  by  faithful  practice  at  home.  Let 
every  one  come  and  take  his  manuscript  for  that 
purpose." 

I  took  mine,  but  doubt  if  I  would  have  made  the 
preparation,  had  not  one  of  the  prize  committee  said 
to  Colesworthy  the  next  day,  ''Tell  Hamlin  he  has 
the  first  prize  ;  you  have  the  second.     Say  nothing. 


APPRENTICE   LIFE   IN  PORTLAND.  71 

but  be  ready."  I  was  overwhelmed  with  amazement. 
I  pitied  the  poor  sixteen. 

The  eventful  evening  passed  off.  All  the  city 
magnates  were  there;  but  just  as  the  closing 
speeches  by  the  distinguished  gentlemen  were  about 
to  come  on,  the  shrill  shriek  of  *'  Fire  !  fire  !  fire  ! " 
was  heard  in  the  distance,  and  in  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time  Master  Jackson  had  his  schoolhouse 
all  to  himself.  It  was  afterward  provoking  to  find 
that  the  blaze  was  out  before  any  one  got  there. 

I  do  not  deny  that  I  was  gratified  by  the  prize, 
slight  as  was  its  value.  Such  a  pen  was  then  a  new 
and  curious  thing,  and  may  have  cost  half  or  three 
fourths  of  a  dollar. 

Ben  Fernald  evidently  knew  of  the  decision  days 
before,  for  he  skillfully  wove  into  his  remarks  to  the 
class  sentences  from  my  essay  which  sometimes 
made  me  blush.  That  was  my  great  and  hateful 
weakness  —  to  blush  at  trifles.  I  couldn't  meet  a 
girl  without  blushing,  and  so  I  avoided  them. 

It  was  during  this  winter  that  one  evening,  as  the 
little  association  came  out  of  Eben  Steele's  house. 
Deacon  Isaac  Smith  took  me  aside  into  a  corner, 
and  asked  me  if  I  had  ever  thought  it  might  be  my 
duty  to  prepare  for  the  ministry. 

"  No,  sir ;  not  seriously,"  I  replied. 

"Well,  I  want  you  to  think  of  it  and  pray  over 


72  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

it ; "  and  he  offered  some  reasons  why  I  should  thmk 
of  it. 

After  a  time  he  was  at  me  again. 

I  told  him  no  :  I  was  engaged  to  Mr.  Farley  and 
I  had  three  years  to  serve,  and  then  I  should  be  free. 

''But  suppose  he  should  release  you.-^  " 

"  I  don't  think  he  would  be  willing  to,  and  I  would 
not  like  to  ask  him." 

However,  his  words  awakened  a  conflict  within  me. 
Should  I  sacrifice  my  bright  prospects  1  Should  I  be 
successful,  how  comfortable  I  could  make  my  mother 
in  declining  years  !  Then  again,  the  utter  vanity  of 
all  earthly  things  would  come  over  me,  and  I  would 
resolve  to  do  that  which  I  should  be  most  likely  to 
approve  any  number  of  thousands  of  years  hence. 
I  earnestly  prayed  God  to  make  my  path  so  plain  that 
I  should  have  not  a  doubt  that  I  was  doing  his  will. 

I  was  greatly  influenced  by  the  following  resolu- 
tions of  President  Edwards,  which  I  copied  for  my 
own  use  and  which  seemed  to  me  to  have  the  force 
of  Scripture  truth :  — 

Resolved,  That  I  will  do  whatever  I  think  to  be  most  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  my  own  good  profit  and  pleasure  in  the  whole 
of  my  duration ;  without  any  consideration  of  the  time,  whether 
now  or  never  so  many  myriads  of  ages  hence. 

Resolved,  To  do  whatever  I  think  to  be  my  duty,  and  most  for 
the  good  and  advantage  of  mankind  in  general. 


APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND.  73 

Resolved,  So  to  do,  whatever  difficulties  I  meet  with,  how 
many  soever,  and  how  great  soever. 

Well,  at  length  Mr.  Farley  told  me  that,  although 
it  was  a  great  disappointment  to  him,  I  was  free  to 
act  according  to  my  own  views  of  duty.  My  sister 
Rebecca  felt  very  deeply  the  thought  of  my  going 
away.  She  shed  many  tears  over  it,  and  yet  she 
said,  "  Cyrus,  I  want  you  to  go.  I  think  God  calls 
you  to  that  life  and  not  to  this,  and  I  would  not  say 
one  word  against  it."  I  became  not  a  little  "tum- 
bled up  and  down  "  in  my  mind  as  to  what  I  ought 
to  do. 

When  Deacon  Smith  came  to  me  again  I  said, 
"  No.  Let  the  thing  be  dropped.  I  can  never  make 
a  minister.  I  can  make  a  good  mechanic,  and  I  had 
better  stick  to  that." 

*•  But  you  won  the  prize  for  an  essay,  did  you 
not .? " 

"Yes,"  I  replied;  "and  I  wonder  at  it.  But  the 
expenses.  Deacon  Smith,  make  it  absolutely  impossi- 
ble. I  could  not  get  through  with  nine  years'  study 
for  less  than,  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  My  share  in 
our  home  is  not  in  a  salable  condition,  and  I  could 
hardly  provide  one  third  of  that." 

"Oh,  I  will  see  to  that,"  he  said;  and  he  placed 
the  question  before  the  church,  and  the  church  voted 
to  aid  me  to  the  extent  of  one  thousand  dollars. 


74  ^y  LIFE  AND   TIMES. 

So,  finally,  I  pitched  all  my  life  plans  overboard 
and  resolved  to  start  anew,  not  for  earthly,  but  eter- 
nal and  spiritual  good.  It  was  not  done  without 
great  searchings  of  heart,  but  once  done  it  was 
never  for  one  moment  regretted. 

It  was  decided  that  I  should  go  to  Bridgton  Acad- 
emy to  fit  for  college.  I  should  be  within  six  miles 
of  home.  Master  Libby  obtained  some  second-hand 
Latin  and  Greek  books  for  my  first  studies.  I  had  a 
Latin  Liber  Primus  and  an  awful  Latin  Dictionary, 
hardly  legible,  a  Greek  Testament,  etc.  That  Greek 
Testament  I  am  confident  was  from  Neal  Dow,  then 
one  of  the  promising  young  men  of  Portland,  a 
tanner  by  trade,  but  also  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman. 
That  Greek  Testament,  printed  in  Boston,  1814,  has 
recently  come  back  to  me  from  the  west  with  names 
of  students  through  whose  hands  it  had  passed. 
The  son  of  the  last  owner,  seeing  my  name  and  the 
date,  1829,  and  I  being  the  only  living  one  of  those 
who  had  owned  it,  sent  it  to  me  as  a  memento  of  the 
past.  It  helped  bring  my  farewell  to  Portland  very 
vividly  to  mind. 

With  feelings  of  wonder  and  great  tenderness  I 
bade  farewell  to  the  shop,  to  the  tools,  to  the  store,  to 
its  inmates,  and  mounted  the  stage  for  Bridgton.  It 
was  early  in  May,  two  years  and  four  months  since  I 
had  left  home.     I  asked.  Is  it  reality,  or  is  it  a  dream  } 


APPRENTICE  LIFE  IN  PORTLAND. 


75 


All  things  are  changed,  plans,  prospects,  hopes,  de- 
terminations. The  world  is  changed,  life  is  changed. 
The  past  is  all  like  a  dream,  and  now  real  life  begins. 
I  was  eighteen  years  and  four  months  old.  I  had 
lived  a  very  industrious  life.  I  must  now  settle 
down  to  study,  and  I  resolved  not  a  moment  should 
be  wasted. 

I  had  some  money  in  my  pocket  derived  from  com- 
mission on  collecting  a  very  hard  lot  of  bills.  A 
pump  and  block  maker  promised  to  pay  his  bill  of 
twenty-five  dollars  the  next  day.  My  commission 
would  be  one  dollar  and  a. half.  That  evening  his 
great  establishment  took  fire  and  burned  up.  I  went 
up  to  the  flat  roof  of  our  store  and  saw  at  once  just 
where  the  fire  was.  ''There,"  said  I,  "there  goes 
my  dollar  and  a  half  ! "  Very  wonderful  is  the  per- 
sonal pronoun,  first  person  singular. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

BRIDGTON    ACADEMY. 

THE  preceptor  of  the  academy,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Soule,  received  me  very  kindly  and  took  me 
to  Mr.  Gould's  to  board,  just  above  the  academy. 
His  son  Stephen  had  just  begun  the  study  of  Latin, 
and  we  roomed  together.  He  was  a  thoroughly 
good  young  man,  but  not  quick  in  his  studies. 

I  had  money  enough  to  pay  my  stage  fare,  and  but 
little  over.  The  church  had  said  nothing,  and  I  did 
not  wish  to  ask  for  money  before  I  had  done  any- 
thing. I  think  Mr.  Soule  had  engaged  my  board  at 
one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  a  week.  After  six 
weeks  a  short  vacation  ;  and  with  a  bounding  heart 
I  would  see  my  mother,  brother,  and  the  old  farm 
again.  But  I  must  pay  my  board  bill.  I  took  out 
my  beloved  watch  and  asked  Mr.  Gould  if  he  would 
take  that  in  pay,  and  he  said  he  would.  I  had  a 
foolish  love  for  the  good  and  true  old  thing,  but  it 
was  no  time  for  sentiment. 

Two  weeks  on  the  farm  at  home  was  life  and  joy. 
I  worked  and  talked  and  ate  and  slept. 

I  determined  to  live  at  some  cheaper  rate  than  one 

76 


BRIDGTON  ACADEMY.  'J'J 

dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  a  week,  and  to  pay  the 
bill  without  asking  help  from  any  one.  A  fellow 
student,  Isaac  Carleton,  of  like  mind,  joined  me  in 
making  an  arrangement  to  board  at  Farmer  Howard's 
—  two  miles  from  the  academy.  It  was  hardly  two 
miles,  for  we  could  walk  it  in  half  an  hour  with  high 
enjoyment.  Full  half  the  way  was  through  a  forest 
which  has  since  disappeared.  We  could  run  it  in 
twenty  minutes,  but  it  was  hard  on  our  breathing 
because  we  did  not  train  for  it. 

Mrs.  Howard  was  the  kindest,  most  motherly 
woman  that  ever  lived.  They  had  one  daughter, 
Rebecca  Howard.  Mr.  Howard  was  an  intelligent, 
industrious  farmer;  and  I  think  we  introduced  a 
variety  into  their  life  that  was  as  pleasant  to  them 
as  to  us.  We  had  a  spacious  room  with  cheerful 
scenery  from  our  windows.  Our  food  was  abun- 
dant. Excellent  bread,  butter,  cheese,  milk,  cream, 
with  all  farm  produce  —  what  more  could  we  want  > 
We  took  a  lunch  with  us  for  noon,  and  dear  Mrs. 
Howard  spent  more  labor  and  care  upon  this  than  she 
was  ever  paid  for.  We  told  her  so,  but  she  would 
say  with  a  smile,  "  Boys  like  a  good  lunch  at  noon." 
There  were  some  fine  old  apple  trees  on  the  hillside 
in  front  that  had  inviting  sitting  places,  which,  on 
our  return  after  tea,  we  often  enjoyed,  preparing  our 
morning  lessons  until  light  faded  utterly  away. 


yS  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

In  the  neighborhood  there  was  an  excellent,  pious 
woman  at  whose  house  there  was  a  neighborhood 
prayer  meeting.  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Congre- 
gationalists  had  no  difference  in  such  meetings.  We 
''  exercised  our  gifts "  in  them,  and  they  were  of 
advantage  to  us. 

We  left  the  Howards  with  regret,  but  the  fierce 
November  blasts  made  us  seek  a  place  near  the 
academy.  I  paid  my  board  bill  and  other  expenses 
in  various  ways.  I  went  to  the  old  shop  in  Portland 
and  made  half  a  dozen  silver  teaspoons  for  Rebecca 
Howard,  about  to  be  married.  I  made  a  pair  of 
silver-bowed  spectacles  for  Mrs.  Howard,  and  another 
pair  for  Mr.  Sawyer,  the  tailor.  My  brother  sold  to 
Mr.  Howard  a  steer,  and  all  bills  were  balanced. 

Next,  I  went  to  board  with  our  excellent  and  be- 
loved principal,  Rev.  Charles  Soule.  I  took  care  of 
his  horse,  and  he  made  my  bills  very  light.  It  is  not 
for  that,  but  as  a  kind,  noble-hearted,  Christian  gen- 
tleman, I  remember  him  with  affection  ;  and  dear 
Mrs.   Soule  can  never  be  forgotten. 

Our  academy  life  was  full  of  interest  and  real  life. 
The  students  were  young  men  and  women  who  came 
there  for  a  purpose,  and  in  pursuing  their  object 
they  turned  neither  to  the  right  nor  left.  I  am 
tempted  to  sketch  some  characters,  but  must  not 
stop.     We  had  a  debating  society  that  called  forth 


BRIDGTON  ACADEMY.  79 

all  our  Strength.  Dr.  Farnsworth,  who,  like  his  son, 
George  S.  Farnsworth,  then  the  little  boy  student, 
was  a  benefactor  of  the  academy,  was  always  present 
at  our  debates,  as  were  also  the  principal  and  Dr. 
Gould,  the  vice-president  of  the  Board  of  Overseers. 
Others  came  in  from  curiosity. 

Our  august  assembly  incited  us  to  make  the  best 
preparation  we  could,  and  some  of  those  debates  are 
still  in  memory  —  one,  with  Henry  Carter,  now 
Judge  Carter,  of  Haverhill,  and  the  other  with  Solo- 
mon Andrews.  The  latter  was  a  trained  debater, 
and  ten  years  my  senior.  He  used  me  up,  although 
I  gave  him  one  or  two  fair  hits.  It  did  me  more 
good  than  the  other  debate,  in  which  Carter  and  I 
were  more  evenly  matched,  and  each  of  us  did  our- 
selves immortal  honor.  The  students  generally  de- 
rived great  benefit  from  these  literary  contests.  They 
were  compelled  to  do  their  best,  and  that  is  real 
education.  I  honor  the  unselfish  devotion  of  our 
seniors  to  this  exercise. 

Our  weekly  declamations,  half  one  week,  half  the 
next,  became  quite  unpleasant  to  us.  All  the  girls 
of  the  village  who  could  flourish  out  used  to  come 
in  and  instead  of  being  wholly  absorbed  by  our 
masterly  eloquence,  they  were  often,  as  we  thought, 
making  fun  of  us.  Carleton  and  I  committed  to 
memory,  each  of  us,  a  whole  sermon  of  Thomas  T. 


8o  ^^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Stone,  on  Peace  and  War.  They  were  good  sermons, 
but  would  not  amuse  those  young  ladies.  Andrews 
had  a  half  hour  of  excerpts  on  tattling  and  tale- 
bearing. We  arranged  that  we  three  should  come 
on  last.  Andrews  and  I  delivered  our  pieces  with 
so  much  energy  that  Mr.  Soule  apparently  merely 
wondered  at  their  length.  Carleton  came  on  in  a 
droning  strain,  and  when  halfway  through  Mr.  Soule 
said,  *'  Carleton,  that  will  do.  You  are  all  dismissed." 
It  wrought  a  perfect  cure  ! 

I  recall  as  one  of  the  great  blessings  of  my 
academy  life  at  Bridgton  the  being  classed  with  a 
very  slow  scholar.  He  found  it  hard  to  get  ten  lines 
of  Virgil.  We  had  only  read  the  Liber  Primus,  and 
not  all  of  that ;  our  drill  in  grammar  was  defective. 
I  wanted  the  principal  to  let  me  move  on.  But  he 
replied,  "  Get  the  lesson  thoroughly,  and  then  move 
on  in  other  studies."  So  we  went  through  the  first 
book  of  the  ^Eneid,  and  I  could  repeat  every  line  of 
it  from  beginning  to  end.  At  the  close  of  the  last 
lesson  Mr.  Soule  closed  the  book,  and  looking  at  me 
from  under  his  dark,  projecting  eyebrows,  he  said  in 
a  low,  significant  tone,  "Go  ahead,  Hamlin!"  Of 
course,  after  that  training  and  drill,  I  walked  right 
through  the  other  books.  At  the  close  of  the  term 
I  had  just  finished  the  ^neid,  and  I  objected  to 
being  examined  in  it  by  the  visiting  committee  with- 


BRIDGTON  ACADEMY.  8 1 

out  reviewing.  But  Mr.  Soule  was  inexorable,  and  I 
had  to  stand  it.  Every  one  knows  that  the  first  few 
lines  of  a  book  are  made  familiar,  and  it  is  quite 
possible  the  committee  felt  themselves  on  safer 
ground  there  than  elsewhere.  They  took  no  other 
portion.  I  had  to  translate  rapidly  a  few  sentences 
from  the  first  of  each  book,  and  they  were  satisfied. 
I  ought  not  to  have  been  allowed  to  get  off  with 
such  imperfect  proof  of  work. 

One  great  enjoyment  of  my  academy  life  was  the 
privilege  of  going  home  every  other  Saturday.  In 
good  weather  I  always  went  across  by  Bear  Pond 
and  Hawk  Mountain,  with  my  beloved  gun.  Par- 
tridges, gray  squirrels,  and  in  the  autumn  pigeons 
were  tempting  game.  Once  as  I  was  passing  along 
the  deeply  shaded  path,  a  beautiful  partridge,  uncon- 
scious of  danger,  walked  from  the  covering  into  the 
road.  Instantly  I  shot  it.  To  my  surprise  it  did 
not  flutter,  but  remained  on  the  ground,  its  head 
erect.  It  looked  at  me  with  its  beautiful  eyes  and 
seemed  to  say,  ''  Could  you  not  let  a  poor  partridge 
enjoy  its  short  and  happy  life  in  its  lovely,  leafy 
home } "  Then  its  bright  eyes  glazed  in  death  and 
its  head  fell.  I  resolved  I  would  never  shoot  an- 
other partridge,  and  I  never  did.  The  shot  had 
severed  the  spinal  cord  just  above  the  wings  and 
hence  it  could  not  move.     It  looked    as    though    it 


82  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


« 


waited,  motionless,  in  order  to  reprove  me.  I  ex- 
cepted from  rny  resolve  all  pernicious  "  varmint." 
One  afternoon  we  saw  from  Mr.  Howard's  house 
a  bear  crossing  the  pasture  -toward  the  woods.  We 
rallied  the  forces  at  hand  and  gave  chase,  four  men 
with  guns.  We  pursued  him  till  he  changed  his 
course  for  Hamlin's  Grant.  Two  of  our  party  fol- 
lowed his  track  with  dogs  all  the  next  day,  but  Bruin 
made  his  escape. 

When  winter  had  well  set  in,  our  district  school  in 
Waterford  was  under  the  teaching  of  Luther  Farrar, 
a  college  sophomore  and  an  excellent  classical  scholar. 
He  offered  to  superintend  my  Greek  and  Latin,  and 
for  eight  or  ten  weeks  I  could  board  at  home.  The 
preceptor  required  that  I  should  come  as  often  as 
once  in  two  weeks  for  examination.  I  was  again  on 
the  farm,  but  my  studies  pressed  me  hard.  Mr. 
Soule  had  mapped  out  for  me  what  I  must  do  in 
order  to  enter  Bowdoin  College  the  next  autumn, 
September,  1830.  The  plan  was  of  doubtful  wisdom, 
but  it  would  save  a  whole  year  of  expense.  I  was 
up  every  morning  at  five  o'clock,  and  I  studied  till 
nine  or  ten  ;  my  mother  would  not  let  me  study 
later.  She  went  to  Mr.  Soule  to  object  to  my  being 
pressed  at  that  rate.  He  made  her  rather  a  curious 
reply,  saying,  "  That  boy  will  never  hurt  himself  by 
hard    study.     He   is   not    of   that    sort.     He   learns 


B RID G TON  ACADEMY.      "  83 

easily  and  never  mopes  and  bothers  himself,  but  goes 
right  along.  Besides,  he  is  such  a  good  walker  and 
gunner  that  he  '11  never  want  for  fresh  air."  If 
there  was  some  exaggeration,  there  was  some  sagac- 
ity in  this  judgment,  for  I  did  study  very  hard,  and 
I  did  not  injure  myself.  I  grew  more  that  year  than 
in  any  year  of  my  previous  life.  I  began  to  look 
like  a  boy  of  more  than  sixteen  or  seventeen.  But 
then  there  was  a  penalty  —  I  outgrew  my  clothes. 

I  must  mention  two  more  pleasant  episodes  of  my 
academy  life,  and  then  dismiss  it. 

As  I  was  crossing  by  Hawk  Mountain  one  Sat- 
urday, I  went  to  the  summit  to  enjoy  the  view.  I 
noticed  an  immense  bowlder  on  the  very  edge  of  the 
precipice,  looking  as  though  it  might  easily  be  dis- 
lodged and  do  something  grand  in  bounding  down 
into  Bear  Pond.  My  brother  told  me  that  one 
Fourth  of  July  there  was  a  general  rally  of  young 
men  to  throw  it  off.  They  cut  a  number  of  spruce 
trees  about  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  placed  these 
long  levers  under  one  side,  but  they  could  not  start 
it.  It  was  imbedded  at  the  base  in  a  foot  or  two  of 
solid  gravel,  and  that  must  all  be  dug  away.  They 
had  no  picks  or  spades  for  that,  and  they  retired  de- 
feated but  resolving  to  do  it  some  day.  I  found  by 
careful  examination  that  it  rested  not  on  the  solid 
granite,  but  on  at  least  a  foot  of  gravel. 


84  '  -'i^y  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 

I  made  an  agreement  with  my  brother  to  meet 
Andrews  and  me  the  next  Saturday,  as  soon  after 
dinner  as  possible,  with  a  sharp  axe,  and  we  would 
make  sharp  stakes  of  the  hornbeam  which  grew 
around ;  and  two  would  sit  on  the  brow  of  the 
precipice,  one  on  either  side,  and  pick  out  that 
gravel,  and  see  what  the  great  bowlder  would  do 
with  itself  then.  The  other  would  supply  sharp 
stakes,  and  so  we  would  all  take  turns. 

The  work  proceeded  hopefully  for  three  or  four 
hours,  and  we  felt  sure  of  a  magnificent  result,  when 
we  discovered  that  right  in  the  center  there  was  a 
round  stone  that  just  filled  the  space  between  the 
bowlder  and  the  solid  rock.  It  was  time  to  go  home 
to  supper.  We  gave  it  up,  and  agreed  to  borrow 
two  crowbars  and  come  the  next  Saturday  and  finish 
it;  and  then  one  suggested  that  some  one  would 
find  it  out,  complete  the  work,  and  get  all  the  credit. 
We  went  at  it  again,  saying,  "  Let  supper  go  for 
once."  It  looked  critical  and  dangerous;  the  thing 
misht  cant  over  on  one  side  and  catch  the  fellow, 
and  he  would  never  cry  for  help  more  than  once. 
The  third  man  was  to  watch  for  the  slightest  motion, 
and  give  us  warning.  We  detached  the  stone,  and 
sent  it  rolling  down.  We  were  searching  for  another 
when  the  scream,  \'  It 's  moving  !  "  made  us  scrabble 
up  without  any  unnecessary  loss  of  time.     It  seemed 


BRIDGTON  ACADEMY.  85 

at  first  to  move  slowly  and  reluctantly,  as  it  sucked 
its  base  out  of  its  compact  bed  of  gravel  where  it 
had  lain  for  untold  millenniums  ;  and  then  with  a 
sudden  plunge  it  went  down  its  fateful  granite  track 
in  sheets  of  flame,  from  friction  or  electricity. 
When  it  reached  a  swell  in  its  path  it  curved  majes- 
tically and  gracefully  into  the  air  and  struck  the 
solid  granite  a  hundred  feet  below.  It  burst  with 
a  tremendous  sound  and  a  vivid  flash  into  three 
great  fragments  which  went  bounding  into  the 
forest.  The  biggest  fragment  made  its  path  known 
by  the  marvelous  commotion  in  the  tops  of  the  trees. 
We  stood,  rapt  observers  of  the  scene  so  entrancing 
and  so  short.  But  we  voted  it  better  than  any  sup- 
per, and  agreed  to  come  the  next  Saturday  and  fol- 
low the  track  of  that  great  fragment. 

We  found  that  when  it  entered  the  woods  it  cut 
trees  of  eight  inches'  diameter  right  square  off, 
without  disturbing  the  roots.  As  the  speed  de- 
creased, it  broke  them  down,  and  finally,  before 
reaching  the  pond,  it  fell  in  between  two  bowlders 
bigger  than  itself,  where  no  academy  boys  will  ever 
disturb  its  repose.  Legends  of  the  achievement  still 
exist  in  the  neighborhood,  considerably  magnified. 

During  the  winter  I  spent  at  home,  I  came  in 
contact  with  the  rum  power,  or,  more  correctly,  my 
brother  Hannibal  and  I  together  did.     There  was  a 


86  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

fierce  division  in  the  school  district  between  the 
rummies  and  the  temperance  side.  The  temperance 
side  gained  their  man,  and  the  strife  ended.  But 
one  night  the  rummies  took  out  all  the  windows  of 
the  schoolhouse  and  carried  them  off. 

My  brother  Hannibal,  who  always  had  a  knack  at 
rhyming,  wrote  a  hudibrastic  description  of  their 
brave  doings.  I  carried  the  letter  at  midnight  and 
hung  it  on  the  handle  of  the  door.  The  person  to 
whom  it  was  addressed  never  knew  from  whence  it 
came.  He  brought  it  to  our  house  in  great  glee, 
saying,  ''  That  Harvard  student  who  has  been  in 
town  undoubtedly  wrote  it."  He  spread  it  all  over 
town,  and  it  stirred  up  wrath  and  laughter. 

But  the  rum  party  was  getting  everything  into 
its  hands,  and  something  must  be  done.  One 
Sunday  evening,  at  the  house  of  my  brother-in-law, 
Mr.  William  Stone,  we  discussed  the  situation 
among  us.  We  wrote  the  names  of  eighty  persons 
who  might  be  called  drunkards,  and  of  seventy 
who  were  hard  drinkers — 150  in  a  population  of 
1,500.  It  was  astounding.  Mr.  Stone  said  to  me: 
^*  If  you  will  write  a  petition  to  our  minister  to 
begin  at  once  a  course  of  weekly  or  fortnightly 
lectures  on  total  abstinence,  I  will  go  round  to- 
morrow and  see  how  many  men  will  sign  it."  I 
did   so,    and   he   obtained   the   names  of   seventeen 


BR  IDG  TON  ACADEMY.  87 

men.  The  drunkards  and  hard  drinkers  signed, 
saying  they  would  like  to  hear  what  Douglass  would 
have  to  say.  Then  William  Warren,  physically  and 
mentally  the  most  powerful  young  man  in  town, 
took  it,  and  obtained  forty  additional  names.  Mr. 
Douglass  was  astonished,  and  the  meetings  were 
appointed  without  delay.  They  were  well  attended 
and  ably  conducted.  In  the  spring  of  that  year, 
1830,  the  first  Total  Abstinence  Society  of  the 
town  was  formed.  It  produced  great  and  excellent 
results.  It  rescued  many  from  the  very  jaws  of 
destruction,  and  saved  a  majority  of  the  boys  from 
the  deathly  habit.  It  needed,  however,  the  Maine 
Law  to  finish  the  work. 

I  returned  to  Bridgton  Academy  and  to  Mr.  Soule's 
house,  where  I  felt  at  home,  for  the  summer  term 
and  the  final  struggle.  I  have  nothing  but  pleasant 
and  affectionate  remembrances  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Soule,  and  all  my  associates  and  friends  at  Bridgton 
Academy.  I  roomed  with  Joseph  Blake  the  last 
term,  and  we  were  dear  friends  to  the  end.  He  died 
a  few  years  ago  in  Andover,  to  which- place  he  had 
retired.  Bowdoin  College  conferred  upon  him  the 
title  of  D.D.  Carleton  had  found  a  place  in  Bangor 
Classical  School,  where  he  could  fit  for  theological 
study  by  a  three  years'  course.  He  became  a  de- 
voted minister  of   the   gospel,  suffered    much   from 


88  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

poor  health,  and  died  early.     I  believe  his  sons  are 
useful  and  prosperous  men. 

The  term  closed,  and  I  bade  farewell  to  Bridgton 
Academy,  farewell  to  Waterford,  farewell  again  to 
the  farm,  but  with  very  different  feelings  all  round. 
My  mother  was  cheerful  and  happy  that  I  was  pre- 
paring for  a  useful  life,  and  that  I  should  be  at  home 
vacations,  and  Hannibal  and  I  kept  up  a  constant 
correspondence. 


CHAPTER   V. 

BOWDOIN    COLLEGE. 

T  LOOKED  forward  to  the  examination  with  fear 
-*-  and  trembling.  What  would  those  learned  pro- 
fessors make  of  me  or  think  of  me .?  I  passed 
through  the  Latin  grammar  and  Virgil,  here  and 
there  in  the  ^neid  and  Georgics,  without  disgrace. 
When  I  came  to  Cicero's  orations,  I  knew  that  I 
might  fail  in  many  places.  But  I  had  an  astonishing 
piece  of  luck.  In  my  hasty  review  I  came  upon  a 
page  of  very  long  and  difficult  sentences  that  I  had 
not  fully  mastered  in  the  first  reading.  I  said  to 
myself,  if  I  am  taken  up  on  this  page  in  examina- 
tion, I  shall  ignominiously  fail.  I  gave  myself  to  it, 
and  wrote  out  a  satisfactory  translation,  and  said, 
"Now  come  on,  Mr.  Professor,  and  try  me  on  this." 
To  my  amazement,  the  examining  professor  turned 
to  that  page  and  said,  "  You  may  pronounce  the 
Latin  first,  and  you  will  perhaps  get  hold  of  it  all 
the  better."  I  did  so,  and  then  gave  him  such  a 
ready  and  smooth  translation  that  he  said,  "  That 's 
quite  sufficient,"  and  closed  the  book,  I  blushed, 
for  I  knew  I  ought  to  say  to  him,  "  That  is  the  only 


90  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

page  in  Cicero  that  I  can  translate  in  that  way."  But 
I  did  71 1.  With  the  exception  of  geography,  my  ex- 
amination was  less  rigid  than  I  anticipated.  Geog- 
raphy was  always  a  weak  point  with  me,  and  the 
examining  professor  asked  me  just  the  questions 
that  I  could  not  answer.  However,  I  received  at 
once  my  ticket  of  admission  ;  and  behold  I  was  one 
of  about  fifty  freshmen  of  Bowdoin  College  !  It 
was  the  largest  freshman  class  that  had  ever  been 
admitted. 

On  the  way  to  Brunswick  I  fell  in  with  Albert 
Cole,  of  Saco,  who  was  to  join  the  same  class.  We 
became  friends  at  once,  and  for  life ;  I  trust  also  for 
eternity.  He  passed  over  after  a  short  but  blessed 
ministry.  Edward  Woodford,  of  Woodford  (then 
Woodford's  Corner),  was  another  freshman,  in  deli- 
cate health, — a  pure  and  noble  spirit,  —  who  still 
lives,  having  made  the  bravest  and  longest  struggle 
for  life  against  physical  weakness  that  I  have  known. 
We  three  were  a  trio.  Both  of  those  choice  friends 
supplemented  me  through  the  college  course.  Cole 
spurred  me  up  to  effort.  Woodford  was  a  young 
man  of  wise,  considerate  judgment.  He  had  more  of 
that  mature,  common  sense  that  decides  a  thing  once 
for  all  than  any  of  us.  Cole  and  I  learned  very  soon 
to  respect  Woodford's  judgment.  He  was  out  of 
college  half  his  time  from  sickness,  but  he  graduated 


BOWDOIN   COLLEGE. 


9E 


honorably,  and  has  outlived  thirty  of  the  thirty-five 
who  graduated  with  him. 

At  ex-Governor  Parris'  special  request,  I  took  his 
son  Albert  as  my  roommate  in  my  freshman  year, 
I  have  always  had  the  highest  respect  for  the  family, 
parents  and  daughters,  but  Albert  was  not  the  chum 
whom  I  wished  to  have  after  the  first  year. 

We  had  hardly  fixed  up  our  rooms,  and  had  our 
first  recitations  in  each  department,  when  a  friend  in 
one  of  the  other  classes  enlightened  me  on  the  sub- 
ject of  hazing,  and  advised  me  to  take  it  kindly  and 
jocosely.  My  whole  soul  revolted  against  this,  and  I 
replied  that  I  would  certainly  shoot  the  sophomore 
that  should  enter  my  room  by  force.  It  is  true  I 
had  nothing  but  a  bootjack  and  such  other  missiles 
as  I  might  procure,  but  I  was  resolved  not  to  dis- 
grace my  Revolutionary  origin  by  basely  yielding  the 
right  of  self-defense.  The  class,  conscious  of  being 
two  to  one,  and  indeed,  against  hazers,  three  to  one, 
easily  responded  to  the  appeal  to  defend  ourselves 
to  the  last.  We  really  prepared  no  arms  but  stout 
heavy  canes  and  such  missiles  as  could  effectively  be 
hurled  by  the  hand.  Some,  who  roomed  near  each 
other,  had  watchwords  by  which  any  one  too  closely 
beleaguered  could  call  out  assistance.  The  other 
party  wanted  vulgar,  brutal  fun,  without  any  danger 
of  penalty.     When  they  saw  a  fierce  determinationt 


92  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

to  turn  eheir  weapons  upon  themselves  and  make 
their  violent  dealing  come  down  upon  their  own 
pates  with  a  vengeance,  their  ideas  of  fun  ail  van- 
ished, and  there  was  not  an  instance  of  hazing  in 
our  freshman  year.  Had  the  sophomore  class  been 
larger,  and  the  freshman  smaller,  there  might  have 
been  ugly  encounters.  But  the  sophomores,  besides 
being  few,  had  so  many  excellent  fellows  among 
them,  as  Allen  (President  of  Girard  College),  Harris 
(President  of  Bowdoin  College),  John  Pike,  Ebenezer 
Parsons,  James  Means,  W.  T.  Savage,  Ben  Tappan, 
S.  H.  Shepley,  C.  C.  Farrar,  and  others,  gentlemen 
and  scholars,  who  were  above  all  such  brutal  out- 
rages, that  the  haiers  found  themselves  in  a  con- 
temptible minority,  and  concluded  that  "  discretion 
was  the  better  part  of  valor."  The  mischief  was 
only  adjourned.     It  will  appear  again. 

I  immediately  found  college  study  quite  different 
from  my  fitting  course.  Not  that  I  studied  harder, 
but  everything  was  regular  and  measured.  Three 
recitations  a  day,  with  some  stated  variations  ;  and 
then  we  must  go  thoroughly  into  a  thing.  Our  pro- 
fessors were  men  of  power.  Shallow,  surface  work 
was  their  abomination.  Professor  Smyth  took  us  in 
scientific  arithmetic,  and  a  great  light  dawned  upon 
the  science  of  numbers  and  the  laws  of  notation. 
Latin  and  Greek  grammar  had  to  be  studied  anew. 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE. 


93 


Here  I  was  very  weak  as  compared  with  some  of  my 
classmates  who  had  been  in  fitting  schools  from  three 
to  five  years.  I  saw  very  soon  that  I  was  not  armed 
for  the  strife.  I  went  to  Professor  Smyth,  who 
seemed  to  take  a  liking  to  me,  and  told  him  just 
what  I  thought  and  felt.  He  listened  to  me  with  a 
sober,  thoughtful  look  and  said,  "  It  might  have  been 
well  if  it  had  been  planned  so  in  the  beginning  ;  but 
now  you  have  entered  college,  you  could  not  at  once 
strike  into  a  course  of  study  or  find  a  class  just  fitted 
to  your  plan  in  any  academy.  You  had  better  con- 
tinue where  you  are.  You  take  mathematics  easily. 
Make  up  your  Latin  and  Greek  grammar,  and  you  will 
reach  the  sophomore  year  on  a  level  with  the  rest." 

It  was,  on  the  whole,  wise  advice.  I  had  not 
the  financial  resources  to  take  a  different  course 
without  calling  upon  the  church  for  help,  which  I 
was  resolved  not  to  do.  Deacon  Smith  and  Deacon 
Coe  advised  me  to  apply  to  the  Education  Society, 
which  I  did,  and  with  the  help  from  home  I  reached 
near  the  close  of  the  first  term  very  happily.  I  had 
formed  some  friendships  in  the  class  and  out,  which 
time  has  only  made  dearer ;  but  now  most  of  them 
have  passed  over  to  the  other  side.  How  few 
remain  ! 

About  three  weeks  before  the  close  of  the  term 
I  caught  a  bad  cold,  which  resulted  in  a  high  fever 


94 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 


and  delirium.  It  was  partly  from  the  absurd  supper 
which  I  cooked  for  myself  out  of  materials  which  my 
chum  brought  me  from  the  club,  at  my  express  order. 
I  was  destined  to  be  a  great  bread  maker,  but  I  was 
not  an  accomplished  cook.  In  the  night  I  saw 
visions.  I  thought  that  the  college  was  on  fire ;  and 
that  I  must  get  my  chum  and  all  the  furniture  out  of 
the  window  before  I  could  escape.  I  rose,  dressed 
myself,  putting  on  my  coat  first  and  then  buttoning 
my  suspenders  ;  my  coat  tails  were  turned  up  against 
my  ears.  I  pulled  my  chum  out  of  bed,  but  he  was 
such  a  sleepy  head  that  he  went  right  back. 

I  moved  the  bureau  against  the  window,  but  I 
could  not  get  it  out ;  I  must  have  help.  Taking  a 
stick,  of  firewood,  I  went  to  the  next  room  to  call 
upon  my  friend  Cole  for  aid.  I  pounded  on  his  door, 
and  although  it  was  midnight,  he  was  still  at  his 
desk.  He  cried  out,  "  Come."  His  look  of  terror 
and  surprise  is  still  vivid  in  my  memory,  for  every 
part  of  that  night's  experience  is  as  indelibly  im- 
printed upon  my  memory  as  though  it  had  all  been 
stern  reality.  He  sprang  from  his  seat,  and  then 
checking  himself,  said,  *'  Oh,  yes  ;  we  '11  do  that  right 
off.  But  here  !  we  don't  want  that  stick  of  wood. 
I  '11  see  to  it  all ; "  and  putting  his  arm  soothingly 
round  me,  led  me  back,  told  me  I  was  ill  and  needed 
a  doctor  and  must  lie  still,  and   he  would  call  Dr. 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE. 


95 


Lincoln.  Dr.  Lincoln  was  the  best  physician  in 
the  place,  but  had  retired  from  all  night  practice ; 
and  he  positively  refused  to  come,  but  Cole  made  him 
come.  He  had  to  come,  to  keep  Cole  from  waking 
up  his  invalid  wife  and  the  whole  household. 

Dr.  Lincoln  talked  pleasantly  to  me,  took  off  three 
or  four  of  the  bed  coverings,  bathed  my  hands  and 
face ;  and  I  was  quite  restored  to  reason.  He  gave 
me  an  emetic,  after  which  I  had  some  good  sleep. 
Mrs.  Lincoln  was  exceedingly  kind  in  sending  me 
nice  things  to  eat,  among  which  were  enormous 
baked  apples,  as  delicious  as  big. 

After  a  few  days  he  said,  ''Go  home  to  your 
mother.  This  is  no  place  for  you."  After  I  had 
gone,  he  told  Professor  Smyth :  "■  You  must  n't 
expect  to  see  that  student  back  here  again." 

I  went  by  a  pleasant  stage  ride  to  my  sister 
Rebecca's  in  Portland.  It  was  better  than  going 
into  the  best  hospital  in  the  world.  Little  Emily 
took  to  me  wonderfully,  and  she  was  one  of  the  most 
charming  little  girls  ever  born.  I  must  have  had 
characteristics  then  that  have  faded  out,  for  children 
generally  made  friends  with  me  right  off.  Old  Mrs. 
Farley  (Mr.  Farley's  mother)  had  a  bottle  of  medi- 
cine half  full.  The  other  half  had  served  her  in 
just  such  a  state  as  I  was  in,  and  now  I  must  take 
it  in  the  same  way.     It  relieved  my  cough  at  once. 


g6  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

I  took  it  home  with  me,  and  with  mother's  excellent 
care  and  the  good,  nourishing  home  living  I  rallied 
very  quickly.  I  then  thought  I  must  teach  school ; 
but  fortunately  the  schools  were  all  supplied,  and  I 
spent  a  happy  winter  at  home.  It  was  well  I  did. 
My  vocal  organs  were  strangely  affected.  My  voice 
was  very  weak  and  indistinct.  Professor  Smyth 
welcomed  me  back  very  warmly  and  told  me  what 
Dr.   Lincoln  had  prophesied. 

Professor  Newman  (of  rhetoric)  took  me  immedi- 
ately into  training  for  a  voice  and  especially  for  dis- 
tinctness of  enunciation.  It  was  of  peculiar  value 
to  me.  After  some  weeks  of  training,  he  told  me 
there  was  no  student  in  college  with  a  more  distinct 
enunciation  than  I  had  attained.  Blessings  on  the 
memory  of  Professor  Newman  !  He  found  my  hand- 
writing something  like  my  voice.  When  I  went  over 
to  his  study  to  receive  back  my  first  "  theme  "  with 
criticisms,  he  said  to  me  :  "  Your  style,  Hamlin,  has 
a  Quaker-like  simplicity  and  clearness.  I  only  wish 
you  would  aim  at  a  little  more  ornamentation  ;  and 
your  handwriting  is  often  quite  indistinct.  There  is 
a  sentence  —  or  rather  that  word  —  what  is  that }  " 

"  It  is  indistinct,  sir." 

"  Yes,"  he  said  with  some  surprise  ;  **  that 's  what 
I  complained  of." 

''Well,  it  is  iitdistmct,  sir." 


BOWDOIN   COLLEGE.  97 

I  saw  he  was  about  to  be  offended  and  I  said  : 
"  That  word  which  I  have  so  baclly  written  is  the 
word  indistinct y 

He  laughed  heartily  and  added :  "  Make  your 
handwriting  as  clear  as  your  style,  and  I  shall  have 
little  to  say." 

He  knew  how  to  encourage  a  poor,  bashful, 
blushing  freshman. 

In  the  second  term  of  the  year  we  entered  our 
chosen  societies.  The  two  leading  literary  societies 
were  the  Peucinian  and  Athenian.  I  chose  the 
former.  They  were  rivals  and  the  rivalry  bred  certain 
evils,  but  they  were  fine  training  grounds  for  life. 

There  were  two  religious  societies — the  Praying 
Circle  and  the  Theological  Society.  This  latter  was 
rather  for  cultivating  some  historical  knowledge  of 
the  heresies  and  orthodoxies  of  the  past  ages  and 
of  the  present  times.  We  aimed  at  nothing  above 
our  reach. 

The  Praying  Circle  brought  together  the  religious 
element  of  the  college  without  any  distinctions.  In 
that  there  were  neither  Congregationalists,  Baptists, 
Methodists,  nor  Presbyterians.  Its  influence  in  col- 
lege was  unobtrusive,  but  was  very  great.  There 
was  a  corps  of  earnest  Christian  students  in  college, 
v/hose  influence  was  excellent  and  whose  work  in  life 
has  been  blessed. 


98 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


There  was  also  a  rough  and  rowdy  element,  pos- 
sessed of  the  devil,  who  thought  it  grand  and  manly 
to  destroy  college  property  by  bonfires,  blowing  it  up 
with  powder,  etc.  The  faculty  could  only  moderate 
the  mischief.  Where  the  authors  were  not  found, 
the  damages  were  averaged.  Every  student  paid 
from  one  dollar  to  one  and  a  half  on  each  term  bill 
—  from  three  to  five  dollars  a  year.  At  length  we 
rebelled,  and  formed  a  combination  that  for  a  time 
stopped  it  with  a  rough  hand  ;  and  the  faculty 
thanked  us  for  it. 

Not  in  my  freshman  year,  but  at  a  later  time,  I 
smashed  a  student's  door  all  to  pieces,  arid  told  him 
that  was  my  first  hint  that  the  business  he  was  up 
to  in  the  night  would  stop  ;  if  it  did  not,  I  would  try 
issues  with  him.  I  wrote  the  treasurer  what  I  had 
done,  and  that  I  would  stand  for  the  damages.  He 
never  charged  them  to  me.  Of  course  I  got  the  ill- 
will  of  some,  but  we  had  quiet  times  for  study. 
There  were  always  some  splendid  fellows,  none  supe- 
rior to  Charles  Beecher  and  John  Goddard,  ready  to 
put  down  lawlessness  by  force  ;  but  the  rowdies  never 
came  to  an  open  fight.  "  Conscience  made  cowards  " 
of  them  all,  and  they  knew  that  law,  government, 
and  public  opinion  were  all  against  them. 

When  my  freshman  year  closed,  I  had  begun  to 
know  that  by  diligence  I  might  have  a  fair  standing 


BOW  DO  IN   COLLEGE. 


99 


in  my  class.  Indeed  I  already  had  it.  Before  the 
close  of  the  first  term,  I  overheard  some  boys  in 
rather  loud  dispute  as  to  who  was  going  to  "  lead 
the  class."  H.  B.  Smith,  Mel  Weston,  H.  T. 
Cheever  were  all  mentioned.  Moses  McLellan  with 
his  magisterial  voice  said  aloud,  "  You  are  all  wrong, 
gentlemen  ;  Hamlin  is  going  to  lead  this  class,"  and 
gave  his  reasons.  I  only  noted  that  his  interference 
was  not  scouted.  It  surprised  me  more  than  any- 
thing of  the  kind  that  had  happened.  Cole  took 
hold  of  it  and  said,  "  Aim  for  the  first  rank,  and  take 
it  for  Christ  and  his  cause."  He  may  have  stirred 
my  ambition  some,  but  I  did  not  look  upon  it  as 
either  possible  or  desirable. 

I  closed  the  first  year  with  gratitude  and  joy.  My 
health  was  good,  and  I  had  learned  to  study.  One 
habit  was  of  great  advantage  to  me  in  the  languages. 
Immediately  after  recitations  I  sat  down  in  my  room 
and  read  over  the  whole  lesson,  so  as  to  fix  whatever 
light  I  had  gained  on  any  passage  or  word.  This 
aided  me  to  remedy,  in  some  measure,  the  deficiency 
in  my  "fit." 

Home  at  length,  enjoying  my  first  vacation  ;  fresh- 
man year  closed,  and  sophomore  dignity  already  on 
my  youthful  brow.  Everything  about  the  farm  wore 
a  charm  unknown  before.  My  brother  had  every- 
thing in    order,   and   1  entered  into  his   plans  with 


lOO  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

enthusiasm.  He  had  a  '*  porcine  "  that  he  v/as  proud 
of.  He  was  going  to  fatten  it.  I  had  just  read  in 
The  Oxford  Democrat  the  advice  to  cut  off  an  inch 
or  two  of  a  pig's  tail  on  commencing  the  fattening 
process.  The  bleeding  would  be  slight,  but  vastly 
beneficial.  I  advised  my  brother  to  do  it.  He 
would  n't  go  into  that  pen  for  any  such  purpose. 
Opening  the  large  blade  of  my  pocketknife,  I  was  in 
the  pen  instanter,  and  had  hold  of  the  quirl  of  the  tail 
with  my  left  hand.  The  wild  beast  plunged  round 
the  pen  so  that  I  could  hardly  hold  on,  but  I  gave 
the  tail  a  slash  and  brought  off  triumphantly,  not  two 
inches,  but  five  or  six !  The  next  morning  the  poor 
pig  had  bled  so  much  he  could  only  stagger  about. 
We  called  one  of  our  neighbors.  He  said,  "  Kill  it 
immediately;  it  will  make  good  pork  as  it  is."  I 
felt  awfully  ashamed  and  conscience-smitten.  I  .felt 
for  the  poor  pig.  He  drank  feebly  the  buttermilk  I 
gave  him,  and  I  had  to  go  and  call  a  butcher,  and  we 
had  fresh  pork  before  the  time.  The  joke  was  upon 
me  decidedly.  That  was  a  specimen  of  my  **  college 
I'arnin'."  My  brother-in-law,  Mr.  William  Stone, 
laughed  and  laughed  immoderately  over  it.  Two  or 
three  years  more,  he  said,  would  make  me  the  great- 
est farmer  in  New  England.  He  thought  everything 
of  me,  and  could  joke  me  without  offense.  I  took 
my  honor  as  meekly  as  possible. 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE.  lOI 

In  the  vacation  I  earned  something  as  a  Sunday- 
school  agent,  visiting  remote  districts  and  establish- 
ing Sunday-schools.  I  found  the  people  generally 
ready  and  waiting,  or  1  would  have    done    nothing. 

As  I  have  mentioned  above,  I  applied  to  the  Edu- 
cation Society  for  aid,  but  my  generous  and  noble 
cousin,  Hon.  A.  D.  F.  Foster,  of  Worcester,  was 
more  to  me  than  the  society,  and  I  drew  aid  from  it 
only  part  of  the  time. 

I  was  induced  by  Professor  Upham  to  take  the 
academy  in  Rochester,  New  Hampshire,  the  native 
place  of  the  Uphams,  for  one  term.  He  said  that  I 
could  keep  along  with  my  class  perfectly  well,  and 
earn  fifty  or  sixty  dollars  besides.  I  had  such  con- 
fidence in  his  wisdom,  and  such  want  of  the  money, 
that  I  yielded,  but  it  was  a  great  mistake.  As  to  the 
academy,  I  came  off  with  honor,  and  made  some 
friends  dear  to  me  still.  It  was,  however,  an  injury 
to  my  studies,  and  I  have  always  advised  students 
never  to  drop  out  of  their  course  for  a  single  day. 
At  the  close  of  the  academy  term  I  walked  from 
Rochester  to  Portland.  One  day  I  made  thirty- 
seven  and  one-half  miles,  my  greatest  day's  walk. 
My  rule  was  twenty-five  miles  a  day,  and  that  I  could 
keep  up  for  any  length  of  time.  I  had  no  desire  to 
try  that  stipt  again. 

On   reaching   Portland,   I   found    my  brother,   Mr. 


I02  ^^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Farley,  with  his  sister,  Miss  Susan  Farley,  just 
stepping  on  board  the  brig  Florida,  Captain  Stallard, 
for  a  trip  to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  I  accepted 
their  invitation  to  go  with  them  and  for  the  first  time 
put  to  sea,  and  for  the  first  time  set  my  foot  on  the 
dominions  of  his  majesty  William  IV.  I  saw  the 
sea  and  felt  its  nauseating  power ;  and  I  saw  Eng- 
lish colonial  society  in  a  most  interesting  manner. 
It  was  a  very  enjoyable  excursion,  treasured  up  in 
memory  still.  The  coming  in  of  the  tide  at  St. 
John  was  worth  going  to  see. 

I  returned  in  season  for  the  term,  and  my  exami- 
nation, whether  satisfactory  or  not,  was  accepted.  I 
resolved  to  be  absent  from  my  class  no  more. 

In  our  sophomore  year  there  was  no  hazing, 
l)ecause  we  had  set  ourselves  against  it  from  the 
beginning,  and  as  it  was  a  monopoly  of  the  sopho- 
more class,  the  freshmen  were  safe.  In  the  sopho- 
more year  I  was  one  of  Longfellow's  assistant 
librarians,  which  brought  very  small  pay,  but  always 
a  word  or  two  with  him.  Any  inquiry  about  an 
author  usually  brought  him  out,  but  he  was  always 
busy  with  some  investigation  of  his  own,  and  we 
did  not  intrude  upon  him.  He  was  universally  liked, 
and  no  one  wished  to  intrude  upon  him. 

At  the  close  of  the  sophomore  year,  I  was  chosen 
secretary  of  the  Peucinian  Society,  an  office  usually 


BOWDOIN   COLLEGE.  \ox 

given  to  the  member  of  the  highest  rank  in  his 
class.  In  the  Athenian  Society  the  same  position 
was  given  to  H.  B.  Smith.  Still  Weston  and 
Cheever  were  probably  on  the  same  plane  in  the 
books  of  the  faculty.  My  studies  in  mathematics 
interested  me  intensely,  and  probably  I  stood  as 
well  in  that  department  as  any  one,  except  J.  H.  C. 
Coffin,  who  was  a  mathematical  genius,  but  remark- 
able in  no  other  study. 

I  entered  upon  my  junior  year  weighted  down 
with  too  many  society  offices.  We  had  a  vigorous 
Temperance  Society,  of  which  there  was  need. 
Colonization  in  Africa  was  then  believed  by  many 
to  offer  ultimate  hope  for  the  slave.  We  formed  a 
new  Natural  History  Society  with  great  zeal.  In 
all  these  I  had  rather  a  leading  part.  But  hazing 
again  came  to  the  front  in  its  most  atrocious  mode. 
The  sophomore  class,  though  a  very  excellent  one, 
had  a  few  fellows  who  determined  to  renew  the 
discredited  practice  of  hazing.  A  few  moderate 
impositions  upon  the  freshmen  were  borne  with  too 
much  mildness.  In  the  meantime  two  of  the 
freshman  class  had  fitted  up  their  rooms  in  a  style 
offensively  neat.  The  room  was  newly  papered,  a 
carpet  quite  covering  the  floor  was  spread,  some 
pictures  adorned  the  walls,  a  nice  center  table  with 
a  handsome  cover  completed  the  outfit.     I  have  no 


I04  ^^  L^^^  ^^^    TIMES. 

doubt  tljeir  mothers  had  been  there,  and  had  done 
it  with  a  mother's   love.     A  brute  by  the  name  of 

D resolved  to  spoil  that  fun.     He  had  a  large 

tin  syringe  made  with  a  jet,  and  filling  it  with  a 
quart  or  two  of  ink,  he  and  his  fellows  broke  out  a 
pane  of  glass,  and  injected  the  whole  into  the  room 
with  all  possible  force.  That  was  bad  enough. 
But  after  that  the  decaying  carcass  of  a  dog  was 
thrown  in.  The  poor  freshmen  declared  they  would 
leave  college  at  once.  Their  beautiful  room  had 
become  a  horror.  I  exhorted  them  to  stay  and  see 
what  would  come  out  of  it.  In  the  evening,  I 
called  together  in  Woods'  room  (for  many  years 
president  of  Western  Pennsylvania  University)  some 
ten  or  a  dozen  of  the  most  powerful  fellows  of 
the  class,  and  exhorted  them  to  inflict  some  pen- 
alty upon  D ,  the  leader,  that  would  stop  such 

outrages  in  the  future.  I  promised  assistance  if 
they  would  utter  a  certain  call,  and  I  went  and 
engaged  about  twenty  good  fellows  to  answer  the 
call,  with  shillalahs  ready  for  use.  I  had  my  own 
ready.  I  was  awakened  that  very  night  by  a  crash, 
and   I    sallied    out  with    short  preparation,   and  the 

first  object  I  saw  was  D ,  in  his  nightshirt,  and 

in  the  hands  of  a  band  of  stalwart  freshmen. 

**  You  hurt  my  right  hand !"  he  cried.      "  Let  it  go, 
and  upon  my  word  of  honor  I  won't  strike." 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE. 


105 


*'  Let    it    go,"   said    the    captain ;  and    D laid 

one  of  them  on  the  floor  by  a  well-aimed  blow. 

He  was  paid  in  cold  water.  They  hurried  him 
out  to  the  pump,  and  held  him  under  the  spout  until 
he  was  well  drenched. 

"  Oh  !  oh  !  oh  !  "  he    groaned  ;   and    they   let   him 

It  was  a  clear  frosty  night  with  a  brilliant  moon, 
and  as  he  came  trotting  back  over  the  frosty  grass, 
the  water  dripping  from  him  in  the  moonlight,  I 
clapped  from  my  open  window.^ 

D complained    of    the    outrage   to    President 

Allen  ;  and  the  president,  in  his  bland  manner,  said : 

**  Yes,  D ;  the  outrage  shall  be  examined;   but 

all  the  antecedents  which  may  have  led  to  it  will  also 
be  examined.  Knowing  this,  if  you  will  make  a  writ- 
ten application,  I  will  attend  to  it  immediately." 

It  is  needless  to  say  he  never  made  it. 

The  general  sentiment  of  the  college  was  *'  Bravo 
for  the  freshmen  !  served  him   risfht."     But    D 


'to' 

and  his  party  planned  an  attack  upon  two  of  the 
more  obnoxious  freshmen's  rooms.  Rev.  Dr.  Rand, 
150  Nassau  Street,  New  York,  knows  about  that  and 
how  it  was  thwarted. 

After    some    days    a    more    formidable    plan    was 

^  Fifty  years  after  I  met  George  Woods,  ll.d.,  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
first  words  he  said  were, "  Give  it  to  him,  boys !  give  it  to  him !  "  He  said  that  I  called 
out  from  my  window  those  words,  which  I  do  not  remember. 


I06  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

formed  of  carrying  out  a  "bogus"  freshman  to  the 
pump.  He  was  to  call  lustily  for  help,  and  as  we 
should  rally  out  to  his  aid  they  had  a  dozen  reserves 
in  a  recitation  room  who  would  rush  upon  us,  catch- 
ing us  one  by  one,  and  give  us  a  thrashing.  The 
plot  was  revealed  to  me  by  one  of  their  own  number 
in  season  to  enable  us  to  thwart  it  and  turn  it  into 
ridicule.  J  never  could  devise  a  reason  for  that 
treachery.  That  ended  hazing  for  a  year  or  two 
more.  The  reason  why  it  has  died  so  hard  is  the 
general  cowardice  of  college  governments  as  to  pun- 
ishing outrages  by  law  before  the  courts.  Such 
affairs  in  college  soon  pass,  and  they  hardly  disturb 
the  current,  except  for  a  day. 

One  more  event  was  destined  to  disturb  my  quiet 
for  a  day  and  to  cause  a  great  deal  of  amusement  of 
a  very  transient  kind  ;  but  first  I  must  mention  the 
antecedents. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  junior  year  there  was  an 
interesting  state  of  religious  feeling,  and  there  had 
occurred  some  marked  conversions.  One  of  my 
classmates,  John  D.  Smith,  was  in  all  things  the 
antipodes  of  Henry  B.  Smith.  He  was  of  a  power- 
ful physique,  of  a  rough  wit,  the  leader  of  scrapes, 
and  the  president  of  "The  Old  Dominion,"  a  society 
for  joviality  and  practical  jokes.  He  derided  "the 
pious."     "Go  and  talk  with  John  D.,"  said    some; 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE.  \oj 

**he  always  treats  you  well  and  you  can  talk  with 
him."  I  was  very  unwilling  to  do  it,  but  seeing  his 
chum  one  day  on  the  ball  ground,  I  determined  to 
see  if  he  were  in  his  room  alone  and  have  a  talk  with 
him.  I  found  him,  so  I  told  him  at  once  I  had  called 
to  have  a  talk  with  him  on  personal  religion,  if  he 
would  ;  if  not,  I  would  retire. 

"Sit  down,  Hamlin,"  he  said;  and  then,  looking 
at  me  with  an  impassioned  and  withering  look,  he 
said,  "That  holy  Cole  will  lie !  " 

"  Suppose  he  will.  Smith  :  what  is  that  to  you  or 
me  1     He  has  to  answer  for  it,  not  we." 

It  disconcerted  him  a  little,  but  he  returned  to  the 
charge :  "  That  pious  Thomas  Parnell  Beach  is  a 
confounded  hypocrite !  " 

"Well,  Smith,  I  don't  know  but  he  is.  What  is 
that  to  you  or  ^o  me  }  Every  man  must  give  account 
of  himself  to  God.  But  I  want  to  ask  you  this, 
Smith  :  Are  you  content  to  live  and  die  just  as  you 
are,  and  risk  eternity  upon  it .?  " 

"  No  ;  I  am  not.  I  know  it 's  my  duty  to  become 
a  Christian,  and  if  I  am  one  of  the  elect,  I  am  safe, 
and  if  not,  I  am  damned  and  there  is  no  help  for  me." 

After  a  conversation  of  very  deep  interest,  I  pro- 
posed that  we  call  upon  God  in  prayer.  We  knelt 
together.  I  think  the  Holy  Spirit  was  with  us. 
The  dinner  bell  rang.     We  went  over  together,  and. 


I08  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

it  seems  to  me  now  that  we  did  not  speak  on  the 
way.  The  "trio"  made  him  a  subject  of  earnest 
prayer.  I  feared  it  was  all  a  momentary  impression. 
I  dared  not  seek  an  interview  for  fear  he  would 
explode  it  all.  The  next  day  but  one  I  saw  him 
coming  across  the  campus,  and  I  met  him  as  though 
accidentally.  He  said  "  Good-morning !  "  so  pleasantly 
I  said  :  — 

"  How  is  it  with  you  now,  Smith  .'*  " 

"  Oh,  I  have  made  my  peace  with  God  !  " 

"  When,  pray  }  tell  me  about  it !  " 

"  When  we  were  on  our  knees  together  before  God 
in  my  room." 

We  did  not  believe  in  such  conversions  then,  but 
it  stood  the  test  of  time.  It  produced  a  profound 
impression  upon  college.  It  helped  forward  the 
spiritual  work. 

We  feared  that  what  occurred,  which  was  called 
John  D.'s  first  speech  after  his  conversion,  would 
injure  the  tone  of  things,  but  I  believe  it  did  not. 

The  Amherst  students  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
Bowdoin  students  proposing  a  united  total  absti- 
nence society,  with  the  idea  of  extending  it  to  other 
colleges.  As  it  was  addressed  to  me,  I  placed  the 
subject  on  the  bulletin  board,  and  proposed  a  college 
meeting  in  the  chapel  right  after  dinner  Saturday. 
The  chapel  was  quite  full.     I  read  the  letter,  after 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE. 


109 


we  had  chosen  Thomas  chairman,  and  I  made  a  few 
remarks  upon  the  importance  of  temperance  in 
college. 

When  I  sat  down  W was  up,  and  commenced 

a  speech  in  ridicule  of  the  whole  thing.  He  had 
repeatedly  pitted  himself  against  me,  with  no  very 
satisfactory  results  to  himself.  His  remarks  finally 
passed  the  bounds  which  even  college  students  set 
to  the  grossly  personal. 

John  D.  sat  at  my  right,  in  the  next  seat  back. 
I  saw  his  strong  countenance  working  with  some 
intent,  and  at  length  he  arose,  a  good  six  footer,  and 
putting  one  hand  on  my  seat  he  lifted  himself  on 
his  toes,  and  swinging  his  long  right  arm  over  his 
shoulder,  he  bent  forward  and  pointing  toward 
Thomas  roared  out,  ''Thomas^  button  up  your 
vest!'' 

It  struck  Thomas  like  an  electric  shock.  He 
sprang  to  his  vest,  but  found  nothing  to  do.  There 
was  a  momentary  silence  of  astonishment  ;  and  then 
the  most  astounding  applause  with  peals  of  laughter. 

Little    W stood    sublimely    unmoved    until    the 

noise  subsided,  when  he  recommenced  his  speech. 
The  students  did  not  relish  this,  and  clapping,  stamp- 
ing, scraping,  caterwauling  followed ;  some  jumped 
out  at  the  windows  and  the  assembly  broke  up.  It 
mortified  and  embittered  W . 


no  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

No  effort  was  made  at  that  time  to  renew  the 
temperance  movement,  but  the  principle  of  total 
abstinence  was  strong  in  college.  The  drinking 
minority  was  small,  and  very  few  of  them  were  men 
of  any  influence. 

Our  class  was  peculiar  for  its  discordant  elements. 
We  quarreled  over  something  at  our  first  class  meet- 
ing. I  think  it  was  about  having  a  class  uniformity 
of  dress.  As  we  began,  so  we  proceeded  through 
college.  We  never  had  one  harmonious  class  meet- 
ing. Our  last  meeting  in  the  senior  year,  to  arrange 
for  a  class  supper,  broke  up  in  disorder  over  the 
question  of  having  wine. 

H.  B.  Smith  came  to  me  and  said,  *'  This  is  too 
ridiculous.  We  have  quarreled  at  every  class  meeting 
straight  through  for  four  years,  and  now  we  must 
quarrel  over  our  farewell  supper.  We  cannot  even 
eat  together." 

I  replied,  "There  is  no  class  in  college  that  has 
more  real  fellow  feeling,  only  we  can't  do  anything 
by  vote.  Let  us  start  a  subscription  paper  for  a 
supper  without  wine,  and  propose  in  the  heading 
three  men  as  a  managing  committee." 

So  we  did  immediately,  and  every  man  but  one 
signed  it,  and  we  had  a  grand  good  time.  We  proved 
that  the  class  of  '34  needed  no  wine  to  move  its 
hilarity  and  wit. 


BOWDOIN   COLLEGE.  m 

As  I  am  writing  my  life  and  times  I  cannot  pass 
over  lightly  the  religious  history  of  the  college. 
The  religious  students  had  three  societies  which 
drew  them  together.  The  Society  of  Inquiry  had 
perhaps  ten  or  twelve  members,  of  whom  three  went 
into  the  foreign  field.  The  Theological  Society, 
meeting  once  a  month  and  having  an  annual  public 
address,  had  a  much  larger  membership,  and  was 
useful  mainly  in  giving  us  some  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  great  theologies.  The  Praying  Circle  met 
every  Sunday  morning  an  hour  before  church.  All 
the  religious  students  belonged  to  this  society.  Its 
meetings  were  open  to  all,  and  were  attended  by 
many  students  who  were  not  members.  It  was  a 
most  excellent  and  useful  association.  It  kept 
church  members  together  and  in  sympathy.  The 
rivalries  of  college  did  not  enter  here.  Every  year 
there  were  seasons  of  special  earnestness  in  our  reli- 
gious work,  and  there  was  no  year  without  some  con- 
versions. It  sometimes  occurred  that  in  vacation  a 
student  had  received  deep  religious  impressions,  and 
he  found  a  sympathizing  brotherhood  to  help  him 
forward  when  he  returned  to  college.  We  had 
indeed  three  revivals  in  our  college  course  :  one  in 
the  sophomore,  one  in  the  junior,  and  one  in  the 
senior  year.  My  classmate  Woodford  writes  :  "  Of 
our  senior  year  there   was    nothing    marked,   but   I 


112  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

must  not  omit  to  notice  the  steady  gain  in  Christian 
development  during  our  last  year  on  the  part  both  of 
the  new  and  old  converts.  Who  can  measure  the 
good  done  by  the  fifty  or  more  who  in  these  three 
revivals  devoted  themselves  to  the  Saviour?" 

But  the  revival  in  our  junior  year  seems  to  me 
worthy  of  brief  record  here,  for  the  manner  in 
which  it  came  on  and  for  the  power  of  God  mani- 
fested in  it.  Its  approach  was  silent  as  the  fall  of 
dew.  There  seemed  to  be  a  peculiar  spirit  of  prayer 
in  our  Praying  Circle.  Individual  students  felt  a 
deep  impression  that  we  were  entering  the  atmos- 
phere of  a  revival.  Some  had  come  from  revival 
scenes  at  home.  Our  circle  found  a  college  room 
too  small  for  the  attendance,  and  it  was  arranged 
that  the  next  Sunday  morning  we  should  meet  in  the 
house  across  the  campus  on  the  main  road,  as  there 
were  two  rooms,  and  the  intervening  hall  would, 
easily  accommodate  fifty  or  sixty  students,  or  more. 
They  were  crowded,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  and  some 
had  come  in  whom  we  had  never  seen  there  before. 

As  we  passed  out  from  that  meeting  at  the  toll  of 
the  bell  for  church,  I  met  Professor  Longfellow. 
He  looked  surprised  and  said  :  "  What  is  up  now, 
Hamlin  } "  I  replied  :  *'  It  is  only  our  Sunday  morn- 
ing prayer  meeting."  "Ah!"  said  he  with  a  puz- 
zled look,  and  passed  on.     We  all  loved  and  admired 


BOWDOrN   COLLEGE.  113 

Longfellow,  but  we  could  not  claim  his  sympathy 
in  this  movement.  During  the  week  Mrs.  Pro- 
fessor Upham  sent  me  a  note  asking  me  to  meet 
the  ladies'  prayer  meeting  for  a  few  minutes  and  let 
them  understand  the  state  of  feeling  in  college. 

Dr.  Adams,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church 
where  nearly  all  the  students  attended,  had  ap- 
pointed an  early  morning  prayer  meeting,  thinking 
some  would  come  together  at  an  early  hour  who 
would  not  be  able  to  come  after  the  labors  of  the 
day  had  begun. 

Anxious  lest  the  conference  room  should  not  be 
suitably  warmed  and  dusted,  he  rose  early  and  went 
to  see  to  it.  He  found  Phebe,  the  colored  sister  of 
the  church,  of  whom  I  shall  speak  further  on, 
kneeling  on  the  doorstone  in  prayer. 

"Why,  Phebe,"  he  asked,  "what  are  you  praying 
here  for  on  this  cold  stone  1  " 

•*  O  Mr.  Adams ! "  was  the  answer,  "  I  know  the 
Lord  is  coming;  I  feel  it  in  my  bones." 

Dr.  Adams  said  to  me  :  "  Who  should  know  it 
first  of  all  but  Phebe,  who  holds  closest  communion 
with  Him  .?  " 

We  found  by  conversing  with  students  that  many 
were  under  serious  impressions.  It  was  so  in  the 
village  also.  Dr.  Adams  appointed  a  protracted 
meeting  and  called  to  his  aid  the  Rev.   Dr.   Tappan, 


114  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

of  Augusta,  and  Dr.  Pond,  professor  in  Bangor 
Theological  Seminary.  The  meetings  were  very- 
full  and  very  solemn.  There  were  many  conversions 
—  more  than  fifty,  I  think.  A  few  were  so  remark- 
able I  will  mention  them. 

H.  B.  Smith  was  one.  He  became  a  distinguished 
teacher,  writer,  and  theologian.  Do  not  fail  to  read 
Professor  Stearns'  life  of  him.  Daniel  R.  Goodwin 
was  another.  He  was  undeniably  the  first  scholar 
and  ablest  man  in  college.  I  have  mentioned  the 
singular  conversion  of  John  D.  Smith.  There  were 
Allen,  Harris,  Pike,  Parsons,  Fred.  Goodwin,  Storer, 
and  many  others  who  have  lived  lives  of  distin- 
guished usefulness.  The  writings  of  Harris,  Good- 
win, and  H.  B.  Smith  have  left  their  impress  upon 
thousands  of  choice  receptant  minds,  and  will  live 
for  generations. 

In  the  village  the  conversion  of  Dr.  Lincoln  and 
Governor  Dunlap  occasioned  a  profound  sensation 
through  the  state.  Dr.  Lincoln,  who  probably  saved 
my  life  (see  page  95),  was  the  most  distinguished 
infidel  in  the  state  of  Maine.  He  was  a  man  of 
excellent  social  character  and  irreproachable  morals. 
But  now  he  came  to  see  himself  a  sinner,  and  to  fear 
the  righteous  judgment  of  God  against  the  trans- 
gressors of  a  holy  law.     He  found  peace  in  believing. 

It  was  a  memorable    evening    when   Dr.    Lincoln 


BOWDOIN   COLLEGE, 


115 


came  in,  and  with  great  dignity  and  sweetness  said 
in  substance  :  "  You  will  expect  that  I  should  tell 
you,  my  friends  and  neighbors,  what  has  caused  the 
recent  change  in  my  religious  views  and  feelings. 
I  can  say  it  has  not  been  argument.  I  have  never 
heard  or  read  arguments  to  which  I  did  not  think 
I  could  give  a  satisfactory  answer  —  satisfactory, 
I  mean,  to  myself ;  but  there  was  one  argument,  a 
living  argument,  that  moved  every  day  and  often 
before  my  window,  in  the  humble,  benevolent  Chris- 
tian life  of  my  neighbor,  Deacon  Perry." 

He  went  farther,  but  this  remark  made  such  an 
impression  I  could  never  forget  it.  He  joined  the 
church  and  witnessed  a  good  confession  until  death 
in  a  good  old  age.  I  had  a  delightful  interview  with 
him  in  1856. 

One  Sunday  evening  as  I  entered  the  church, 
rather  late,  Dr.  Tappan  was  at  prayer,  and  the  burly 
form  of  Governor  Dunlap  was  right  before  me. 
Then  the  whole  audience  stood  in  prayer.  Governor 
Dunlap  was  known  as  a  pronounced  Unitarian,  a 
Democrat,  and  aristocrat.  I  wondered  what  had 
drawn  him  in  ;  whether  it  was  merely  to  find  some- 
thing for  sarcastic  criticism.  Soon  Dr.  Tappan 
fell  upon  him  in  prayer.  At  first  he  prayed  for  the 
governor  of  the  state  in  very  appropriate  language, 
such  as  any  minister  might  use,  and  then  proceeded 


I  1 6  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

to  individualize  him  in  a  most  remarkable  and  ear- 
nest manner,  praying  that  he  might  feel  such  a  sense 
of  his  sins  and  his  danger  of  eternal  ruin  and  of  his 
need  of  a  Saviour  that  he  would  gladly  choose  to 
die  as  a  beggar  with  Christ  as  his  Saviour,  rather 
than  attain  the  highest  prizes  of  political  ambition 
without  him,  etc.  It  was  painful  and  astounding  to 
many  persons  present,  who  thought  the  evil  one  had 
crept  into  that  prayer  so  as  to  raise  a  row  with  the 
Unitarians.  We  changed  our  minds  when,  the  next 
morning,  at  chapel  prayers,  President  Allen  prayed 
for  the  governor  of  the  state,  who  had  passed  a 
sleepless  night  under  deep  conviction  of  sin. 

Governor  Dunlap's  conversion  was  very  decided 
in  its  characteristics  and  bore  the  test  of  time. 
When  the  manumitted  slave  woman,  the  praying 
Phebe,  died,  he  was  one  of  her  pallbearers,  regard- 
ing her  as  one  of  the  King's  daughters.  The  fruits 
of  this  revival  were  exceedingly  rich  and  valuable. 

The  steam-engine  episode  of  my  college  life  you 
will  not  wish  me  to  pass  over,  although  you  can 
find  it  on  page  208  of  "  Among  the  Turks." 

When  Professor  Smyth  lectured  to  our  class  upon 
the  steam  engine,  hardly  one  of  them  had  any  clear 
understanding  of  the  machine.  Few  had  ever  seen 
one  ;  there  was  no  such  thing  then  in  the  state  of 
Maine. 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE.  117 

After  the  lecture  I  said  to  Professor  Smyth  :  "  I 
believe  I  could  make  an  engine  that  would  make 
any  one  see  its  working." 

"I  think  you  can  make  anything  you  undertake, 
Hamlin,  and  I  wish  you  would  try  it." 

I  at  once  agreed  to  do  so  upon  the  encouragement 
he  gave.  Thus  thoughtlessly,  in  two  minutes,  I  em- 
barked in  a  scheme  that  you  will  see  has  had  an 
influence  upon  all  my  life.  It  was  done  rashly, 
on  no  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  machine  I  had 
engaged  to  make.  I  made  haste  to  examine  it  more 
fully.  I  could  find  no  work  on  the  steam  engine  in 
the  library,  but  we  had  the  monthly  publication  of 
the  Franklin  Institute,  Philadelphia.  I  read  a  notice 
of  "Lardner  on  the  Steam  Engine,"  and  I  obtained 
it  immediately  from  Boston.  I  was  in  for  it,  and  I 
resolved  *'  to  do  or  die." 

I  soon  perceived  that  the  two  months'  vacation 
would  be  far  too  short  a  period  for  such  a  work,  for 
I  resolved  to  make  it  a  complete  condensing  engine,, 
with  condenser,  air  pump,  and  all.  Professor  Smyth 
entered  into  the  scheme  very  warmly  and  obtained 
two  weeks  of  our  review  time,  as  I  could  do  that 
work  evenings.  So  with  fell  determination  to  at- 
tempt and  to  accomplish  what  seemed  to  myself 
almost  absurd,  I  left  for  Portland.  After  some  search 
I   found   a  place   in   a   clock   maker's  shop,  Edward 


1  1  8  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Grueby's,  where  I  could  have  the  use  of  a  good 
foot  lathe  and  forge.  I  had  told  Professor  Smyth  I 
should  want  ten  dollars'  assistance,  but  I  had  to  pay 
that  for  shop  rent.  My  brass  cylinder,  for  which  I 
made  the  model,  cost  enormously,  as  did  all  my 
other  castings.  I  knew  nothing  about  boring  the 
cylinder  and  it  was  done  imperfectly  by  a  contriv- 
ance of  my  own.  I  bestowed  a  vast  amount  of  labor 
upon  finishing  and  polishing  the  inside  of  that 
cylinder.  Neal  Dow  took  great  interest  in  it  from 
the  beginning  and  helped  me  in  boring  out  the 
refractory  piece.  As  the  work  slowly  proceeded 
it  grew  in  formidable  proportions.  I  began  to  work 
evenings  as  soon  as  I  had  completed  my  reviews. 
Mr.  Graeby  very  kindly  entrusted  me  with  the  shop, 
and  I  worked  at  first  till  nine  o'clock  and  then  till 
ten,  till  eleven,  and  as  long  as  I  could  keep  awake. 
I  wonder  how  I  endured  it.  Some  of  the  work  I 
had  to  do  over  twice,  but  I  never  dropped  a  piece 
till  I  was  satisfied  with  it. 

When  six  weeks  of  the  two  months'  vacation  had 
passed,  Professor  Smyth  came  up  to  see  how  I  was 
succeeding.  He  was  pleased  with  what  he  saw. 
He  promised  me  the  two  weeks  out  that  I  would 
need  for  its  completion.  My  bills  amounted  to  $J2  ! 
Neal  Dow,  president  of  the  Portland  Lyceum, 
secured  two  lectures,  ^lo  each,  before  the  lyceum. 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE. 


119 


After  that  I  lectured  at  Saco,  Hallovvell,  Augusta, 
Gardner,  and  Brunswick,  with  varying  fortunes. 
The  lyceum  lectures  brought  $10  each  and  ex- 
penses, and  two  ticket  lectures,  one  at  Saco,  the 
other  at  Gardner,  managed  by  my  friends,  were  to 
bring  me  $30  or  ^40.  A  terrific  snowstorm  ruined 
one  and  a  fire  the  other,  so  they  left  me  a  little  out 
of  pocket.  But  a  ticket  lecture  in  Brunswick  netted 
^32.  I  was  prouder  of  that  achievement  than  of  the 
engine.  My  debt  was  paid  and  a  little  more,  and  the 
college  gave  me  $175  for  it  as  a  model  to  be  placed 
among  the  philosophical  apparatus.  It  is  now  in 
the  Cleaveland  Cabinet.  I  would  not  like  to  have 
any  mechanic  look  at  it  without  remembering  that 
it  is  the  first  steam  engine  ever  made  in  the  state 
of  Maine  and  that  I  made  it  without  competent 
tools  or  competent  knowledge.  It  cost  me  three 
months  of  the  hardest  work  of  my  life. 

The  steam-engine  enterprise  must  have  diverted 
me  some  from  my  regular  studies,  but  it  opened  new 
fields  of  knowledge,  of  history,  of  political  economy, 
and  the  balance  was  restored.  I  shall  have  to  refer 
to  it  often. 

I  have  passed  over  the  time  when  I  chose  the 
foreign  field  for  my  life  work.  I  think  I  always  had 
a  trembling  apprehension   that   if  I   should  become 


I20  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

a  minister  of  the  gospel,  I  should  have  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  heathen.  What  reason  could  I  give 
to  God  or  my  own  conscience  why  I  should  not  be  ? 

In  the  winter  of  1831-32,  Monson  and  Lyman, 
the  martyrs  of  Sumatra,  were  at  the  medical  college 
in  preparation  for  their  work.  They  were  truly 
devoted  men.  Secretary  Wisner,  a  very  admirable 
man,  came  and  urged  the  claims  of  the  heathen 
millions  upon  all  who  professed  discipleship  and 
obedience  to  the  first  Great  Missionary.  I  acknowl- 
edged the  reasonableness  of  the  claim  and  I  said  to 
my  conscience  and  my  Lord,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me." 

When  I  went  home  I  told  my  dear  mother.  She 
broke  down  and  wept  as  I  had  never  seen  her 
before.  Her  emotion  was  transient.  She  recovered 
herself  and  said  with  a  tremulous  voice:  "Cyrus,  I 
have  always  expected  it  and  I  have  not  a  word  to 
say,  although  I  would  have  been  so  happy  if  I  could 
have  had  my  youngest  son  with  me."  The  others 
shed  many  tears,  but  not  a  word  of  opposition  came 
from  brother  or  sisters. 

I  early  chose  Africa  for  my  prospective  field.  I 
read  Mungo  Park  and  Denham  and  Clapperton,  and 
some  other  African  explorers,  and  the  idea  of  pene- 
trating the  interior  took  strong  possession  of  my 
mind.  It  led  me  to  recast  my  views  of  life  pretty 
earnestly  and   solemnly.     I  resolved  1   would  never 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE.  12  1 

lay  up  any  money.  I  would  try  to  square  my  ac- 
counts every  year  and  there  should  be  nothing  over. 
I  also  resolved  that  I  would  sacrifice  all  my  ambi- 
tious ideas  of  great  learning  and  would  give  myself 
to  just  those  things  that  my  work  and  my  environ- 
ment seemed  to  call  for.  I  have  kept  this  vow  also. 
If  I  could  choose  life's  sphere  of  labor  over  again,  I 
would  not  change.  I  bless  God  who  has  guided  all 
my  path. 

Our  little  Society  of  Inquiry  did  not  do  very  much 
toward  making  missionaries.  Parris,  Dole,  and  Bond 
went  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  they  have  done  a 
noble  work  there  and  their  names  shall  never  perish. 

I  should  leave  out  a  long  slice  of  college  life  if  I 
should  not  notice  more  fully  our  society  life.  It  was 
something  far  more  literary  and  scientific  than  col- 
lege societies  are  at  the  present  day.  The  two  rival 
societies,  as  I  have  before  mentioned,  were  the  Peu- 
cinian  and  the  Athenaean.  The  division  of  each 
freshman  class  between  these  two  was  a  matter  of  im- 
mense importance.  In  point  of  numbers  they  were 
about  equal.  Each  had  its  library,  and  the  loyalty 
of  each  student  was  measured  by  his  gifts  to  the 
library.  They  were  both  beautiful  libraries  of  about 
three  hundred  volumes  each.  The  librarianship  was 
a  post  of  honor.     The  fortnightly  meetings  were  for 


122  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES.     - 

debate  and  the  reading  of  essays.  Our  debates 
were  sometimes  very  earnest  and  called  forth  talent 
and  research.  They  constituted  an  important  part 
of  the  literary  incitement  of  the  college  course. 

Each  class  at  the  close  of  its  junior  year  furnished 
the  candidates  for  the  offices  of  president,  secre- 
tary, and  chairman  of  the  standing  committee. 
There  was  no  little  political  excitement  in  distribut- 
ing the  honors.  The  principle  in  all  the  societies 
was  to  give  the  presidency  to  the  highest  in  college 
rank,  and  the  secretaryship  to  the  next.  But  as 
it  often  was  difficult  to  discriminate,  the  secretary 
usually  had  the  annual  oration,  and  that  leveled  up 
his  honor  quite  to  the  presidency.  Parties  were 
sometimes  formed,  of  course,  but  the  vote  of  the  so- 
ciety decided  the  contest,  and  I  do  not  remember  any 
asperity  that  remained  a  single  day  after  the  decision. 
I  had  far  more  than  my  share  of  the  presidencies, 
and  more  than  I  could  accept.  I  accepted  three  — 
the  Peucinian,  the  Praying  Circle,  and  the  Theo- 
logical. I  positively  refused  three  others,  and  I 
ought  to  have  refused  the  Theological,  because  that 
required  an  annual  public  oration,  and  I  had  too 
many  irons  in  the  fire  in  my  senior  year. 

You  may  wish  to  ask  me  if  I  was  so  popular 
among  the  students  that  they  should  heap  upon  me 
all  the  honors  they  had  to  bestow.     I  wondered  at 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE. 


125. 


their  choice  myself.  I  was  not  so  popular.  There 
was,  perhaps,  a  particle  of  truth  in  what  a  graduate 
said  of  me,  that  I  was  the  best  loved  and  the  best 
hated  of  any  student  of  my  class.  The  hatred  has 
as  much  to  do  with  it,  perhaps,  as  the  love.  I  had 
the  reputation,  not  at  all  deserved,  of  being  perfectly 
fearless  and  of  not  mingling  with  anybody's  affairs 
that  did  not  belong  to  me.  I  had  very  warm  friends 
out  of  my  class  —  Means,  Harris,  Pike,  Tappan,  Par- 
sons, Goddard,  Farrar,  Allen,  Prentiss,  Dole,  Blake,, 
Drummond,  etc.  Between  the  hatred  and  the  love  I 
confess  to  have  had  more  than  my  share  of  college 
honors  at  the  hands  of  the  students.  It  was  their 
fault,  not  mine.     I  never  sought  one  of  them. 

The  public  oration  before  the  Peucinian  Society 
did  not  belong  to  me.  I  was  chosen,  as  I  thought, 
in  disregard  of  the  rights  of  a  classmate  whom  I 
loved  and  honored.  I  positively  refused  it ;  but  at 
the  next  meeting  I  was  again  unanimously  chosen, 
and  I  accepted  it.  In  looking  round  for  a  subject 
I  selected  The  Philosophic  Errors  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Accidentally  reading  the  Siinima  TJieologicB 
of  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  I  noticed  some  absurd 
topics  gravely  discussed.  I  asked  Professor  Long- 
fellow what  he  thought  of  that  as  a  subject.  He 
said  :  "  Capital !  fresh,  and  never  made  a  subject  by 
any  of  our  students."      Professor  Newman  liked  the 


124  ^^y  L^^^  ^^^   TIMES. 

oration,  and  sent  it  to  The  Quarterly  Register,  Pro- 
fessor Longfellow,  meeting  me  on  the  campus  the 
next  day,  said :  "  Hamlin,  that  was  the  best  oration 
I  ever  heard  from  lips  studential."  It  was  extrava- 
gant praise,  but  Longfellow  loved  to  give  full  measure 
of  commendation  where  there  was  any  chance. 
After  it  was  published  I  regretted  that  I  had  not 
drawn  special  attention  to  the  fact  that  I  had 
searched  for  the  errors  only.  I  had  given  no  credit 
for  philosophical  acuteness  and  subtle  analysis. 

My  classmate,  Henry  B.  Smith,  was  president  of 
the  rival  society,  the  Athenaean,  but  we  always  re- 
mained the  best  of  friends,  and  used  sometimes 
to  laugh  at  our  belligerent  forces.  His  oration 
before  the  Athenaeans  was  far  superior  to  mine  ;  but 
being  less  peculiar,  did  not  excite  the  attention  and 
admiration  which  it  deserved. 

After  the  celebration,  the  society  had  one  great 
supper,  in  which  there  was  every  luxury  our  souls 
lusted  after.  These  four  feasts  and  the  farewell 
class  supper  constituted  all  the  feasting  that  I  re- 
member in  college.  One  evening  in  the  sophomore 
year,  coming  up  from  the  Peucinian  supper  at  eleven 
o'clock,  or  later,  feeling  that  after  such  a  supper  I 
should  not  easily  sleep,  and  there  being  moreover  a 
wind  storm  with  masses  of  flying  clouds  sometimes 
obscuring   every   star,    I    was   tempted    to    try   my 


BO  IV DO  IN   COLLEGE,  1 25 

nerves  as  to  superstition  connected  with  graveyards 
and  darkness.  There  was  an  old  abandoned  church 
a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  college  on  the  sandy- 
plain  ;  and  alongside  of  it,  separated  from  it  by  the 
road,  was  an  old  graveyard  where ''the  forefathers 
of  the  hamlet  slept  "  ;  but  population  had  moved  off 
to  the  banks  of  the  river  and  there  was  nothing  left 
but  death  and  desolation.  The  windows  had  been 
broken  out  by  naughty  boys,  and  the  floor  was  so 
broken  up  that  even  sheep  could  not  find  a  refuge 
inside,  for  the  great  holes  in  the  floor  would  let  them 
down  two  or  three  feet.  The  pews  were  for  the 
most  part  standing.  It  was  regarded  by  the  super- 
stitious as  a  haunted  place ;  it  was  the  saddest  place 
I  had  ever  seen. 

The  freak  took  me  of  going  out  there  in  that  most 
ghostly  night  and  climbing  up  into  that  old  pulpit, 
in  absolute  darkness,  and  offering  a  challenge  to  all 
the  ghosts  of  the  buried  dead  and  the  hobgoblins  of 
the  air  to  meet  me  and  do  me  wrong  and  I  would 
send  them  howling  into  the  abyss.  I  accomplished 
it  with  great  care,  lest  in  the  absolute  darkness  I 
should  tumble  into  a  hole  and  the  joke  would  be 
upon  me.  I  began  my  address,  competing  with  the 
roaring  sounds,  when  unmistakably  I  heard  a  groan 
or  a  grunt.  ''Halloo,  there  !  who  are  you  }  what  do 
you  want  .^ "     Then  two  or  three  heavy  raps  on  the 


126  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

side  of  the  house  to  my  right  and  a  peculiar  scraping 
sound  and  another  grunt  or  groan  !  I  was  in  for  the 
contest  I  had  challenged,  and  I  would  see  it  through. 
I  got  out  of  the  old  house  as  quickly  as  I  safely  could, 
and  stepping  upon  some  sticks  lying  round  I  picked 
up  by  feeling  a  good  club  and  went  round  to  call 
the  intruder  to  account.  The  first  thing  I  stumbled 
on  was  a  good  old  cow !  and  I  found  that  a  whole 
herd  of  cattle  had  quietly  sheltered  themselves  from 
the  wind  under  the  lee  of  the  old  church,  and,  lick- 
ing themselves  as  cattle  will,  had  knocked  their 
horns  against  the  church  !  I  did  not  disturb  them. 
I  went  away  satisfied  that  ghosts  could  not  frighten 
me,  and  that  I  had  no  fear  of  a  graveyard  in  night 
and  daj-kness.  Why  should  any  one  have .''  This 
affair  is  quite  out  of  chronological  order,  and  belongs 
to  the  sophomoric  year. 

In  my  senior  year  I  was  repeatedly  warned  that 
there  was  a  party  of  students  who  had  bound  them- 
selves by  an  oath  that  they  would  have  revenge  upon 
me  before  I  should  graduate  and  I  had  better  be  on 
my  guard.  I  laughed  at  such  warnings.  I  said, 
"  They  are  all  cowards,  for  they  have  been  challenged 
to  meet  us  in  open  conflict,  and  for  three  years  they 
have  never  done  it." 

My  conscious  security  gave  me  perfect  peace,  but 
no  safety.     I  misjudged  the  bitterness  of  the  opposi- 


BOWDOIN   COLLEGE.  12/ 

tion.  One  night  I  felt  myself  to  be  in  a  terrible 
incomprehensible  nightmare ;  but  something  which 
was  smothering  me  slipped  off.  I  drew  a  full  breath 
and  instantly  comprehended  my  situation.  I  was  in 
the  hands  of  my  friends  the  enemy,  and  I  resolved 
"  to  play  the  Indian "  of  perfect  passivity.  Strug- 
gling to  escape  would  have  been  useless,  for  I  was  in 
the  hands  of  seven  persons.  One  had  my  head,  two 
had  my  arms,  two  grasped  me  powerfully  in  the 
flank,  and  two  had  my  legs.  They  rushed  down  two 
flights  of  stairs  roughly,  but  I  set  my  teeth  firmly, 
resolved  not  to  utter  a  sound.  When  they  came  on 
to  the  level  I  relaxed  every  muscle  and  hung  like  a 
dead  man  in  their  hands.  There  was  one  at  the 
pump  making  the  wat^r  fly.  But  some  one  said, 
"  He  's  dead ! "  and  they  dropped  me  rudely  on  the 
corner  of  the  platform  ;  not  a  drop  of  water  reached 
me  and  they  fled  for  their  lives  —  I  up  and  after 
them.  I  singled  out  two  of  them  and  gave  chase. 
They  fled  to  the  pines  which  then  bordered  the 
campus.  As  I  was  barefooted,  I  gave  up  the 
chase  and  went  back  to  bed.  I  did  not  even  change 
my  nightshirt ;  but  I  resolved  what  I  would  do.  I 
would  make  nothing  of  the  affair,  would  look  upon 
it  with  contempt,  and  keep  absolutely  still  until  they 
should  all  be  thrown  off  their  guard  and  let  the 
whole   affair   out    boastfully.     I    would    then    arrest 


128  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

them  for  assault  and  battery  and  housebreaking. 
This  satisfied  me  so  completely  that  I  fell  asleep 
and  slept  an  hour  after  my  intended  time. 

I  had  taken  out  leave  to  go  to  Portland  that  day, 
and  I  had  a  pitcher  of  milk  and  some  bread  for  my 
early  breakfast.  I  resolved  I  would  take  that  walk 
of  twenty-four  miles,  unless  I  should  fall  by  the 
way.  I  made  my  breakfast,  and  had  a  piece  of  bread 
to  spare  for  lunch.  I  started  out  just  as  all  the 
students  were  coming  out  of  prayers.  They  sur- 
rounded me,  and  I  stepped  upon  the  stone  block, 
gave  the  briefest  statement  possible  concerning  the 
attack,  and  expressed  my  contempt  of  the  whole 
affair,  and  my  only  regret  that,  having  overslept,  I 
was  starting  for  Portland  an  hour  late.  They  gave 
me  a  very  hearty  cheer  as  I  departed.  It  was,  I 
confess,  a  hard  walk.  I  had  been  wrenched  ;  large 
patches  were  black  and  blue  ;  and  when  they  dropped 
me  my  left  hip  struck  the  sharp  corner  of  the  great 
plank  platform  of  the  pump. 

When  I  reached  Portland  my  sister  Rebecca  ex- 
claimed, ''  Why,  Cyrus,  you  are  sick  !  "  I  said,  **No  ; 
not  sick,  but  awfully  tired.  Give  me  supper  and  ten 
hours'  sleep,  and  you  '11  find  me  lively  as  a  cricket." 
But  what  helped  me  sleep  was  the  following  letter. 
The  students,  immediately  after  breakfast,  had  a 
public  meeting  and  passed  the  resolutions  below  :  — 


BOWDOIN   COLLEGE.  129 

Brunswick,  June  28,  1834. 

Friend  Hamlin,  —  A  transcript  of  certain  resolutions  annexed, 
passed  this  day  by  the  students  assembled  in  the  chapel,  will 
inform  you  of  the  purpose  of  this  communication  :  — 

Whereas,  An  indignity  was  last  night  offered  to  Brother 
Hamlin,  in  whom  we  as  fellow  students  feel  interested,  and 
whereas  the  expression  of  our  sympathy  should  be  as  public  as 
was  the  outrage,  therefore,  by  this  meeting  of  the  students  of 
Bowdoin  College  be  it 

Resolved,  That  pumping  is  subversive  of  law  and  honor,  and 
derogatory  to  the  character  of  students ;  that  the  unprovoked 
attack  upon  and  personal  abuse  of  Hamlin  can  be  justified  by 
none  of  the  feelings  of  men,  and  by  none  of  the  principles  of 
common  morality  or  even  of  common  decency ;  and  that  the 
perpetrators  of  this  deed  are  regarded  by  us  as  unmanly  and 
dishonorable,  deserving  neither  respect  nor  kindness. 

Resolved,  That  the  character  of  Hamlin  as  a  superior  scholar, 
as  a  high-minded  and  public-spirited  young  man,  and  as  a 
Christian,  while  it  cannot  be  wounded  by  any  such  base  means 
as  have  been  employed,  now,  more  than  ever,  demands  our 
public  and  unqualified  approbation. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  signed  by  the 
chairman  and  secretary  of  this  meeting,  be  forwarded  to  Hamlin. 
(Signed)  G.  Horace  Upton,  Secretary. 

Daniel  Weston,  Chairman. 

With  the  above  I  had  the  two  following  brief 
notes  of  the  same  date  :  — 

My  dear  Friend,  —  We  had  some  struggle,  but  the  victory  is 
ours —  is  yours.  I  congratulate  you  upon  the  full  sympathy,  no 
less  full  than  deserved,  which  you  have  met  with.     As  a  class- 


130  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

mate,  and  I  hope  as  a  fellow  Christian,  I  rejoice.  The  wanton 
aggression  has  been,  as  far  as  human  means  avail,  avenged,  and 
while  you  can  trust  in  your  consciousness  of  right  and  in  your 
Saviour  for  grace  to  help,  I  am  sure  that  you  may  go  on  your 
way  rejoicing.  In  haste,  yours  truly  and  ever, 

Henry  B.  Smith. 

My  dear  Brother,  —  I  fully  accord  with  the  sentiments  ex- 
pressed by  our  good  friend.  Henry  B.  Smith  has  acted  a  noble 
part  in  this  affair.  After  some  fear  and  trembling  we  determined 
on  a  general  meeting ;  the  discussion  was  somewhat  stormy, 
and  continued  for  one  and  a  half  hours,  but  your  friends  and  the 
friends  to  religion  proved  true  and  valiant.  After  the  few  in 
the  opposition  had  exhausted  all  their  art  and  fiendish  malice, 
the  original  motion  for  the  passage  of  the  resolution  was  called 
for,  and  the  result  glorious  —  seventy-five  for,  six  against. 

Full  well  I  know  that  your  character  needed  no  such  testimo- 
nies and  vindication,  but  receive  them  as  a  renewed  expression 
of  brotherly  love  and  affection.      Yours  most  sincerely, 

A.  Cole. 

With  this  generous  endorsement  of  myself  and 
withering  condemnation  of  the  other  party,  I  could 
go  right  on  as  though  nothing  had  happened.  The 
president  told  me  that  the  faculty  were  ready  to 
take  the  most  efficient  action.  I  begged  them 
to  do  nothing  until  I  should  enter  a  complaint,  to 
which  he  acceded.  I  would  not  talk  with  any  one 
about  it,  not  even  with  Cole  and  Smith  and  Wood- 
ford.     Sometimes   a   student    would  ask   me,   "  Are 


BOW  DO  IN  COLLEGE.  131 

you  going  to  swallow  all  that,  Hamlin  ?  "  And  I 
would  reply,  ''  I  have  swallowed  it  and  I  don't  see 
as  it  hurts  me  at  all.  My  digestion  was  never 
better."  So  everybody  thought  the  affair  had  passed 
by  forever. 

It  worked  just  as  I  had  confidently  expected. 
The  fellows  began  to  boast  of  their  achievement. 
In  a  symposium  of  some  twenty  or  more  the  whole 
thing  was  discussed  and  each  one's  part  in  it  was 
talked  over.  One  of  those  present,  a  student  belong- 
ing to  all  parties  and  having  about  equal  sympathies 
with  all,  described  the  whole  to  me.  I  manifested 
no  interest  in  it.  I  told  him  I  had  always  supposed 
it  was  just  about  so.  Still  I  said  nothing  and  did 
nothing,  until  another  student  volunteered  informa- 
tion equally  minute.  I  then  wrote  down  the  names 
of  the  seven  who  had  offered  the  personal  violence, 
whom  I  intended  to  arrest,  and  the  names  of  seven- 
teen who  had  some  personal  knowledge  of  the  affair 
before  it  came  off  or  during  the  transaction,  to  be 
summoned  as  witnesses. 

I  went  into  Chandler  and  Proctor's  room  and  told 
them  what  I  was  going  to  do  and  that  I  wanted  their 
advice  about  two  individuals. 

Their  excitement  astonished  me.  Chandler  danced 
about  his  room  and  clapped  his  hands  and  said  : 
"  Now,    Hamlin,  you   are    Hamlin  !     It    would   have 


132  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

been  disgraceful  to  let  such  an  outrage  go  unvvhipt 
of  justice." 

When  I  told  them  that  I  was  going  right  to  the 
lawyer's  office  to  have  all  the  papers  made  out  and 
the  fellows  arrested  and  the  witnesses  summoned 
as  the  students  came  out  from  prayers  the  next 
morning,  they  could  hardly  control  themselves. 

"  Oh,  won't  those  fellows  laugh  out  of  the  other 
side  of  their  mouths !  They  have  become  boastful, 
and  they  might  have  caught  you  again  to  finish  their 
work  and  do  it  better  next  time  !  " 

But  the  two  cooled  off  and  sat  down  and  carefully 
considered  the  whole  list.  They  knew  everything. 
They  belonged  to  the  Athenaean  Society  and  would 
not  naturally  be  my  champions.  They  revealed  their 
knowledge,  not  directly,  but  by  giving  me  advice. 
At  one  item  I  positively  objected.  But  they  both 
insisted,  "  He  will  be  your  strongest  witness  if  the 
lawyer  knows  how  to  turn  him  inside  out."  They 
were  good  and  faithful  friends. 

I  had  some  difficulty  at  the  lawyer's  office. 
Charles  Packard,  Esq.,  was  a  good,  generous,  noble- 
hearted  man  ;  but  he  feared  for  me  and  knew  that 
for  himself  he  should  have  to  bear  endless  insults 
from  those  fellows. 

"But  that  is  nothing,"  he  said  ;  ''your  life  will  not 
be  safe." 


BOWDOIN  COLLEGE.  1 33 

I  finally  said  with  some  impatience,  "  Mr.  Packard, 
I  have  not  come  to  ask  advice,  but  the  making  out 
of  the  legal  forms  that  are  needful  to  summon 
those  fellows  before  Justice  D ." 

He  yielded  and  made  out  the  papers  and  agreed 
to  act  as  m.'  counsel.  We  had  a  splendid  constable, 
powerful,  cool,  and  fearless.  I  was  quite  unexcited 
myself,  for  I  was  doing  it  from  a  conviction  of  duty, 
to  prove  that  law  can  be  made  to  reign  in  college, 
and  I  believed  that  one  example  would  inaugurate  a 
change.  I  went  into  it  calmly,  prayerfully,  firmly, 
with  a  good  conscience  toward  man  and  toward  God. 

In  the  morning  there  was  some  delay  in  getting  a 
place  for  the  trial.  As  soon  as  I  engaged  the  Free- 
will Baptist  meetinghouse  I  sent  the  constable  up 
the  hill.     He  broke  up  every  morning  recitation. 

Professor  Cleaveland  was  the  most  affable  of  men 
socially,  but  he  was  ** monarch  of  all  he  surveyed^' 
in  his  lecture  room,  and  any  student,  however  slow 
of  apprehension,  understood,  at  least,  that  much. 
A  rude  knock  at  the  door  clothed  his-  brow  with 
thunder. 

"Nason,  please  to  see  what  is  wanted." 

Nason  returned,  his  countenance  showing  con- 
sternation and  fear,  and  said,  "  Please,  sir,  the  con- 
stable wants  So  and  So  and  So,  and  I  think  Hamlin 
is  arresting  the  hazers." 


134  ^^^  ^IP^   ^4ND    TIMES. 

Every  seat  was  instantly  empty  and  the  class 
rushed  out  wildly,  caring  no  more  for  the  great 
professor  than  for  one  of  his  trilobites. 

I  came  up  to  the  college  level  just  as  the  whole 
cavalcade  was  issuing  from  the  campus.  My  lawyer 
was  sure  I  should  be  brickbatted  and  protested  that 
I  placed  no  value  upon  my  life.  I  was  received  with 
a  grand  hurrah,  and  the  arrested  fellows  had  not 
recovered  from  their  surprise  enough  to  even  hiss. 

The  defendants  engaged  Squire  Alden,  but  he  was 
so  abusive  toward  Packard  and  myself  that  the 
audience  scraped  him  down,  and  would  not  let  him 
open  his  mouth. 

Justice  D very  properly  delayed  the  proced- 
ure till  they  could  engage  O'Brian,  who  was  a  gentle- 
man. Two  weeks  were  allowed  them  to  consult 
their  papas  and  prepare  their  defense. 

The  move  was  everywhere  popular  and  just  the 
thing  that  should  have  been  done.  Dr.  Lincoln 
sent  for  me  to  say  that  he  had  consulted  with  a  few 
friends,  —  the  Dunlaps  and  others,  —  that  they  had 
agreed  that  the  legal  trial  should  be  no  expense  to 
me,  and  that  they  wanted  me  to  employ  the  best 
counsel  in  the  state.  I  felt  that  the  Lord  himself 
was  supporting  me  in  that  way. 

On  the  eve  of  the  momentous  day  the  counsel  on 
both  sides  met  together.     The  three  lawyers  for  the 


BO  WD O IN   COLLEGE.  135 

defendants  —  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  Dcblois,  of 
Portland,  and  Young,  of  Frecport  —  pleaded  for 
a  compromise.  They  (the  defendants)  belonged  to 
rich  families  and  their  parents  had  better  pay  an 
indemnity  than  to  let  the  case  go  on,  as  it  might  put 
a  blot  on  these  young  fellows  for  life.  The  counsel 
on  both  sides  sent  a  messenger  asking  that  I  pro- 
pose an  indemnity  that  would  satisfy  me  to  let  the 
matter  drop.  I  replied  at  once  that  any  indemnity, 
great  or  small,  would  ruin  the  case.  I  would  agree 
to  anything  my  counsel  advised,  only  the  settlement 
should  involve  two  things  —  a  written  confession  and 
apology  and  payment  of  all  expenses. 

The  counsel  pronounced  the  decision  magnani- 
mous and  wise.  The  fellows  were  confounded. 
They  first  sent  one  of  their  number  to  ask  the  presi- 
dent if  they  settled  the  matter  thus,  if  it  would  pre- 
vent their  getting  a  diploma.  He  replied :  "  Of 
course  not."  One  declared  he  would  never  sign. 
But  toward  midnight,  softened  by  large  potations,  he 
signed,  and  the  case  ended.  I  received  the  thanks 
of  the  faculty  and  of  the  most  distinguished  friends 
of  the  college,  while  some  were  disappointed  that 
no  suitable  penalty  was  inflicted. 

One  of  the  defendants  suffered  a  lifelong  penalty 
—  the  young  lady  to  whom  he  was  engaged,  but  of 
whom   he  was  not  worthy,  promptly  dismissed  him, 


136  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

declaring  she  would  never  be  the  wife  of  a  man  who 
could  do  so  mean  a  thing.  I  have  never  seen  reason 
to  regret  the  course  I  took,  but  I  do  regret  that 
there  is  so  little  manliness  in  colleges  that  hazing 
has  so  long  been  endured.  Faculty  and  students 
are  both  guilty  that  law  does  not  reign  over  the 
violators  of  law. 

A  few  days  after  this  case  terminated  one  stu- 
dent in  a  violent  quarrel  kicked  another,  who 
immediately  started  for  Lawyer  Packard,  and  told 
him  he  would  have  to  settle  that  case  with  him. 
The  offender  immediately  relented,  begged  his  par- 
don, and  stuffed  a  five-dollar  bill  into  his  vest 
pocket.  It  came  to  be  understood  that  law  could 
be  instantly  appealed  to. 

As  the  last  term  passes  on  the  appointments  for 
Commencement  are  discussed  in  a  lively  manner.  I 
resolved  to  be  content  with  any  appointment  I  should 
have.  I  had  been  engaged  in  so  many  things  that 
I  could  not  hope  for,  and  did  not  wish,  the  distinction 
of  first  or  second  part.  I  might  have  the  third  ; 
I  would  be  content  with  the  fourth,  for  of  the  four 
students  who  were  reported  to  stand  side  by  side, 
I  had  done  so  much  extra  work  that  I  was  ready  to 
take  the  consequences.  The  four  were  put  on  a 
perfect  level.  Four  orations  were  to  come  on  to  the 
stage    in    alphabetical    order.     Previous   years    had 


BOWDOIN   COLLEGE, 


m 


brought  great  dissatisfaction  with  the  distinctions 
made,  but  here  there  could  be  none. 

**  The  defendants "  were  not  satisfied  with  the 
upshot  of  their  revenge.  Two  or  three  days  before 
Commencement  President  Allen  sent  for  me  and 
said  he  was  sorry  to  say  that  he  had  received  notice 
from  a  most  reliable  source  of  a  plot  to  drive  me  off 
the  stage  and  prevent  me  from  delivering  my  oration. 
A  certain  number  of  students  would  cooperate,  but 
chiefly  fellows  from  without  would  be  distributed 
through  the  house,  who  would  take  up  and  continue 
the  hissing,  caterwauls,  scraping,  and  whatever  other 
ways  they  might  have  of  expressing  their  malice. 
They  would  hardly  dare  to  throw  missiles.  He 
would  like  to  know  what    course    I  would    suggest. 

I  replied  :  "  I  have  managed  those  fellows  thus  far 
and  I  would  like  to  have  them  all  the  way  through." 

He  smiled  and  said  :  *'  You  have  done  so  well  thus 
far  the  faculty  thought  you  would  choose  to  do  so." 

I  went  to  Colonel  Estabrook,  our  magnificent  mar- 
shal on  Commencement  days,  and  told  him  of  the 
plot.  I  begged  him  to  take  it  all  as  a  regular  part 
of  the  exercise  when  I  should  come  on  to  the  plat- 
form. I  would  wait  as  long  as  they  would  make  a 
row,  and  then  I  would  explain  the  matter  to  the 
audience  for  their  decision,  and  I  knew  it  would 
be  in  my  favor.     I    came    to  the  stage  with  nerves 


138  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

somewhat  firmly  strung.  I  wore  Longfellow's  Oxford 
gown,  for  we  all  spoke  in  gowns.  I  had  my 
oration  in  a  roll  in  my  hand,  so  that  if  great  con- 
fusion should  occur,  I  should  not  be  driven  off  the 
track  by  fault  of  memory.  I  saluted  the  president, 
the  two  boards  of  government,  and  the  audience, 
expecting  every  moment  the  other  part  of  the  per- 
formance .  would  begin  ;  but  it  did  not.  I  paused  a 
little  and  then  concluded  to  begin  my  second  oration, 
as  the  first  seemed  to  be  uncalled  for.  When  I 
concluded,  I  received,  as  was  confessed,  the  most 
rapturous  applause  of  the  day. 

It  was  an  unspeakable  gratification  to  my  mother, 
as  also  to  myself,  that  no  disturbance  was  made.  I 
think  my  brother  Hannibal  was  a  little  disappointed 
that  he  could  not  see  me  put  those  fellows  down. 

As  the  audience  slowly  dispersed  two  young  ladies 
put  a  package  in  mother's  hand.  The  ladies  were 
the  Misses  Perkins,  of  my  Bible  class  in  Topsham. 
It  was  a  pair  of  shirts  of  the  nicest  linen  that  could 
be  found,  and  of  the  nicest  needlework,  when  ladies' 
fingers  were  the  only  sewing  machines.  They 
seemed  to  never  wear  out.  I  of  course  used  them 
carefully.  They  lasted  far  into  missionary  life  on 
the  Bosphorus. 

I  remember  that  Bible  class  with  deep  interest ; 
they  were  a  fine   set   of  girls.     They  expressed   to- 


BOW  DO  IN  COLLEGE. 


139 


Students  their  burning  indignation  of  my  treatment. 
They  were  amazed  to  see  me  unchanged,  laughing, 
and  telling  them  it  was  a  mere  college  trick,  not 
worth  a  moment's  thought ;  they  could  n't  make 
me  a  martyr  anyhow. 

Cole  and  I  first,  and  afterwards  others,  had  a  Sun- 
day-school two  seasons  in  the  Pennell  and  Curtis 
district,  out  on  the  Freeport  Road.  My  acquaintance 
with  those  interesting  families  continued  until  recent 
years.  Death  and  change  have  carried  them  far 
away.  I  cannot  but  think  that  in  the  world  to  come 
even  the  casual  friendships  of  this  life  will  be  of 
some  value. 

The  Commencement  audience  disperses  and  then 
the  spreads  begin.  There  may  have  been  twenty 
in  our  class  of  thirty-five.  Generally  two  students 
united.  My  chum  in  the  senior  year  was  John 
H.  C.  Coffin,  brother  of  Mrs.  Professor  Smyth.  He 
was  the  mathematical  genius  of  our  class  and  of  the 
college,  and  afterwards  a  distinguished  professor  of 
mathematics  in  United  States  service. 

We  fitted  up  our  room  with  ornaments  from  the 
woods  and  the  gardens.  My  sister  Rebecca,  Mrs. 
Farley,  offered  to  make  the  graduating  cake,  and 
Coffin  supplied  the  lemonade  and  fruit.  The  cake 
was  fine.  Miss  Susan  Farley  had  the  freedom  of 
Blant  Sawyer's  garden  in  order  to  make  the  wreath. 


140  MV  LIFE  AND   TIMES. 

It  attracted  general  attention,  and  though  others 
expended  three  or  four  or  five  times  the  money, 
there  was  nothing  attracted  more  admiration. 

Some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  state 
came  in  to  express  their  approbation  of  what  I  had 
done,  and  to  congratulate  my  mother.  She,  of 
course,  was  gratified  that  her  little  boy  had  passed 
through  so  many  experiences  with  honor  and  good 
health. 

Farewell,  Bowdoin  College  !  Farewell,  beloved 
classmates  of  1834!  No  period  of  life  is  like  col- 
lege life  —  its  high  hopes  and  resolves,  its  undy- 
ing friendships,  its  earnest  and  joyous  contests,  its 
solemn  views  of  life's  career,  its  deep  religious  im- 
pressions, its  efforts  to  be  led  and  to  lead  others  in 
the  path  of  life.  The  inspiration,  too,  derived  from 
the  character,  attainments,  and  teachings  of  a  noble, 
devoted,  learned,  unselfish  faculty,  and  the  friendship 
of  those  men  through  life,  make  the  college  years  of 
priceless  value.  President  Allen,  Professors  Cleave- 
land,  Upham,  Newman,  Smyth,  Packard,  Longfellow, 
every  name  excites  emotions  of  gratitude,  admiration, 
and  love. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SEMINARY    LIFE    AND    TIMES    AT   BANGOR. 

AFTER  a  vacation  of  a  few  weeks,  which  I  very 
highly  enjoyed,  in  Waterford  and  Portland, 
Ilsley  and  I  went  on  board  the  steamer  for  Bangor. 
It  must  have  been  in  October,  and  well  advanced, 
for  it  was  cold  and  stormy,  and  we  found  Bangor 
abundantly  supplied  with  a  very  adhesive  mud.  It 
is  now  such  a  very  beautiful  and  clean  city  one  can 
hardly  conceive  of  its  condition  then.  But  it  had 
a  very  enterprising  people.  There  was  so  much 
intelligence  and  refinement  and  literary  cultivation 
that  one  wondered  to  find  it  all  in  such  tumultuous 
surroundings.  Buildings  were  going  up  on  every 
hand,  new  streets  were  being  opened  in  the  clayey 
soil,  and  except  where  plank  sidewalks  were  laid  it 
was  best  to  attempt  as  little  movement  as  possible. 
Tappan  and  I  had  made  an  agreement  to  room 
together.  We  had  been  good  friends  in  college,  as 
we  are  now,  and  our  three  years  passed  most  har- 
moniously. He  was  a  close  student,  a  fine  linguist, 
a  profound  and  independent  thinker,  a  perfect  gentle- 
man, an  earnest  Christian,  but  with  a  sort  of  reserve 

141 


142  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

that  has  kept  him  back  while  others  of  lighter 
weight  have  gone  ahead. 

The  day  after  my  arrival  a  gentleman  of  fine 
appearance,  whose  gray  hair  and  cast  of  counte- 
nance would  suggest  the  age  of  seventy,  called  and 
introduced  himself  as  Mr.  McGaw,  a  lawyer  of 
Bangor,  and  inquired  if  I  were  the  son  of  Hannibal 
Hamlin,  of  Waterford.  On  finding  that  I  was,  he 
gave  me  a  very  cordial  welcome  to  Bangor,  and 
wished  me  always  to  feel  that  I  had  a  home  in 
his  house. 

"Your  father,"  he  added,  "gave  me  my  first  busi- 
ness as  a  young  lawyer;  he  had  confidence  in  me 
and  brought  me  forward,  and  what  success  I  have 
had  I  consider  largely  owing  to  that  starting  out 
in  life.  I  have  always  felt  that  it  would  be  a 
pleasure  to  me  to  do  a  favor  to  a  son  of  Hannibal 
Hamlin,  of  Waterford." 

It  was  almost  like  meeting  my  father,  whom  I 
never  knew,  and  who  on  his  deathbed  had  special 
anxiety  about  me. 

I  entered  at  once  upon  the  study  of  Hebrew  and 
New  Testament  Greek  and  exegesis  with  lively 
interest.  The  two  professors  Pond  and  Bond  con- 
ducted our  first  year's  studies.  There  was  quite  a 
change  in  the  institution  in  many  respects.  It  had 
been  struggling  for  existence,  and  in  great  poverty 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.   143 

had  been  turning  out  very  useful  men  who  com- 
manded the  respect  and  love  of  the  people. 

Dr.  Pond,  a  man  of  power,  by  nature,  culture,  and 
grace,  had  come  there  to  stay.  A  new  professor- 
ship of  sacred  rhetoric  was  about  to  be  founded, 
and  graduates  of  colleges,  some  eight  or  nine  in  my 
class,  came  in.  Before  then,  most  of  the  students 
had  entered  the  Theological  School  after  a  three 
years'  course  in  the  Classical  Academy.  All  was 
life  and  hope  and  joy.  Bangor  society  received  us 
kindly  and  generously,  but  Tappan  and  I  soon  saw 
the  danger,  and  we  fixed  a  rule  :  ''  One  evening  a 
week  to  society,  and  even  then  faithful  study  till  nine 
o'clock."  In  this  way  we  avoided  the  waste  of 
time  which  students  sometimes  make  in  society,  and 
which  we  should  have  made  but  for  this  rule. 

I  did  not  very  much  enjoy  society,  except  where  I 
was  so  well  acquainted  as  to  feel  at  home.  I  was 
excessively  bashful,  and  I  blushed  like  a  girl  at  the 
slightest  thing ;  I  was  so  ashamed  of  this  I  blushed 
all  the  more.  But  I  found  my  good  genius  there. 
Mrs.  James  Crosby,  either  from  pity  or  from  seeing 
something  in  me  that  should  not  be  lost,  with  equal 
skill  and  wisdom  gave  me  the  friendship,  the  confi- 
dence, the  consideration  that  gave  me  confidence  in 
myself ;  and  from  that  day  to  this  I  have  counted 
her  among  my  best  friends. 


144 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 


We  settled  down  to  close  study.  We  agreed  that 
our  theological  course  depended  mainly  upon  our- 
selves, upon  our  modes  and  habits  of  study.  The 
policy  of  the  teaching  was  to  call  out  effort,  and 
to  encourage  the  utmost  freedom  of  thought  and 
inquiry.  I  resolved  to  have  no  such  issues  as  in 
college  and  to  keep  clear  of  everything  that  should 
in  the  least  distract  me  in  my  studies.  This 
came  very  easy  the  first  year  and  I  had  nothing 
outside  but  a  Bible  class  of  young  ladies  in  Dr. 
Pomeroy's  church.  Some  of  its  members  were  very 
bright  and  not  afraid  to  ask  puzzling  questions ; 
but  I  was  never  puzzled,  for  I  always  confessed 
my  inability  frankly  when  I  felt  it.  No  man  loses 
anything  by  that,  especially  a  young  man.  The 
scholars  in  that  class  have  nearly  all  passed  away. 
A  few  years  since  I  heard  of  two  of  them  at 
the  West,  and  it  gave  me  a  thrill  of  pleasure  to 
know  that  they  had  inquired  for  me  and  had 
remembered  the  Bible  class. 

I  began  also  to  go  out  into  school  districts 
within  four  or  five  miles'  walk,  of  a  Sunday  after- 
noon to  "  hold  a  meeting."  I  found  some  fruit  in 
one  of  these  places  forty  years  afterward.  But  the 
first  year  was  one  of  study  and  of  growth  and  of 
extending  a  pleasant  acquaintanceship  with  the  peo- 
ple of  Bangor,  who  seemed  to  receive  us  into  their 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.    1 45 

families  in  a  very  friendly  and  natural  way.  I  often 
dined  at  Mr.  McGaw's. 

We  found  two  graduates  of  Bowdoin  College  in 
the  class  preceding  ours,  who  were  a  valuable  addi- 
tion to  seminary  life.  H.  G.  Storer,  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege, 1833,  was  a  wit,  a  devout  man,  of  a  very  clear 
analytic  mind,  whose  ill  health  kept  him  down  or  he 
might  have  been  a  leader  of  thought.  The  logic  of 
Edwards  entranced  him,  almost  strangled  him.  He 
once  said  to  me,  "  I  fear  I  shall  become  a  fatalist." 
In  conversation  on  the  Scriptures  and  on  Christian 
experience  he  had  a  peculiar  richness  of  thought. 
His  nervous  system  was  unsound  and  he  was  subject 
to  great  changes  from  hilarity  to  despair.  After  he 
became  a  preacher  he  never  supplied  an  empty 
pulpit,  in  city  or  country,  without  receiving  a  call 
to  settle.  His  health  would  sometimes  enable 
him  to  preach  for  a  few  months  and  then  he 
would  retire  to  recruit.  His  mind  was  clouded 
toward  the  close.  He  was  greatly  beloved  by  his 
intimate  friends. 

Yeaton  was  another  Bowdoin  College  graduate,  a 
close  friend  of  Storer's.  The  two  were  very  unlike. 
Yeaton  was  a  Coleridgeite.  He  was  a  man  of  gentle, 
refined  character  and  taste  and  of  exact  scholarship. 
Everything  from  his  pen  bore  the  character  of  finish. 
He    succeeded    more   as    a   teacher   than    preacher. 


146  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Visits  to  these  dear  friends,  on  my  return  from  the 
East,  are  memorable  and  precious. 

''  In  what  part  of  the  world  shall  I  live  and 
labor  ?  "  will  always  be  a  question  of  interest  to  one 
who  has  decided  to  go  wherever  duty  shall  seem 
to  call  him.  The  world  was  all  before  me  where  to 
choose.  I  was  more  inclined  to  China,  because 
Tracy  and  Johnson,  whom  I  knew  at  Brunswick,  had 
gone  there  ;  and  Tracy  had  sent  me  a  box  of 
Chinese  paper  dresses,  pictures  of  gods,  and  native 
offerings,  with  which  I  could  interest  Sunday-schools. 
But  about  the  time  of  entering  the  seminary  I  had 
by  chance  taken  up  Mungo  Park's  Life  and  Travels 
in  Africa.  I  was  so  much  interested  that  I  also 
read  Bruce,  Denham,  and  Clapperton,  the  Landers, 
and  The  Limits  of  the  Negro  Race  (by  Heeren.?). 
I  fixed  upon  Africa.  I  would  go  into  the  great  in- 
terior and  see  what  there  was  there.  This  was  my 
ideal.  I  dreamed  of  being  in  Africa.  This  choice 
had  one  important,  practical  influence.  I  resolved 
never  to  select  a  wife,  never  to  fall  in  love,  never  to 
expose  myself  to  that  danger  by  any  familiar  ac- 
quaintance with  young  ladies,  however  excellent,  until 
I  had  penetrated  Africa  and  come  out  alive.  This 
gave  me  a  feeling  of  freedom  I  could  not  otherwise 
have  had,  and  I  also  regarded  myself  as  no  object 
of  interest  to  any  young   lady    or   to    any    mamma. 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.    1 47 

On  that  whole  subject  Africa  made  me  delightfully 
free.     She  was  my  bride  ;  I  was  already  married. 

Freewill  and  the  divine  foreordination  of  all 
events  of  course  perplexed  us.  Professor  Pond  held 
strongly  to  the  Decrees  and  also  to  Edwards'  Theory 
of  the  Will  —  "always  as  the  strongest  motive." 
Yl'is preac/n?ig  was  as  though  the  will,  the  man,  was 
self-determined.  Self-determinism  he  rejected.  I 
was  long  in  doubt,  until  I  resolved  to  stand  by  self- 
determinism  as  well  as  by  divine  sovereignty,  and 
not  attempt  to  explain  their  harmony  of  meeting 
together.  I  rested  there  and  fought  the  battle  on 
that  line. 

My  first  theological  year  passed  with  nothing 
remarkable.  It  was  a  year  of  growth.  I  felt  sure 
that  I  stood  in  right  relations  to  God  and  man  in 
my  African  outlook.  My  mother,  my  sisters,  and 
my  brother  approved  of  my  general  choice,  but  did 
not  like  the  prospect  of  a  combat  with  African 
fever. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  three  of  us  walked  to 
Brunswick,  suffering  much  from  bad  weather  by  the 
way.  My  stockings  were  soaked  in  blood  when  I 
took  off  my  boots  in  Warren's  room. 

'*0  Hamlin,"  he  said,  "you  have  done  cruel 
work  there  ;  but  I  will  bring  ycu  out  all  right." 

He  went    out,  bought  a   pint    of   rum,  and,    with 


148  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

about  the  same  amount  of  warm  water,  put  my  feet 
to  soak.  It  had  a  wonderfully  soothing  effect  ;  and 
with  a  little  bandaging  and  a  day's  rest  I  went  on 
as  though  nothing  had  happened.  It  was  the  best 
use  of  New  England  rum  I  ever  knew  and  I  found 
it  equally  efficacious  on  other  similar  occasions. 

The  second  year,  1836,  brought  me  into  outside 
work  enough.  I  gave  a  course  of  lectures  on  physi- 
cal science  in  the  Classical  School,  with  experiments, 
and  received  seventy  dollars  for  the  course.  I  gave 
also  one  of  the  course  of  lectures  before  the  Bangor 
Lyceum.  My  subject  was  Africa:  its  Resources 
and  Prospects.  It  was  well  received.  It  was  pub- 
lished in  The  Literary  and  Theological  Review.' 

In  the  neighborhood  of  the  seminary  there  was  a 
new  Ireland.  About  five  hundred  Irishmen  had 
come  in  to  find  work,  which,  until  winter  came,  was 
abundant.  They  had  put  up  shanties  unfit  for  our 
terrible  winters.  There  was  hardly  a  temperate  man 
among  them,  and  their  priest  was  a  drunkard.  A 
fearfully  cold  snap  came  on  in  the  winter.  The 
thermometer  fell  to  twenty-four  below  zero,  and  I 
knew  at  once  there  must  be  suffering  in  Paddytown. 
I  found  three  families  in  one  house,  and  one  in 
another,  without  fuel  or  fire,  and  with  no  food  but 
frozen  potatoes.  They  were  cowering  together  in 
straw  and  rags  and  all  the  covering  they  could  muster. 


SEMINARY  LIFE   AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.    149 

"What  are  you  going  to  do?"  I  said.  "Are  you 
going  to  die  here  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  indade  we  must.  Can  I  go  out  in  this 
coat  .?" 

"  No,"  I  said  ;  "  hold  on  a  little  and  you  shall  have 
all  you  need." 

I  made  swift  steps  to  Charles  A.  Stackpole,  a 
friend  of  mine  in  many  sharp  discussions  of  history, 
ancient  and  modern.  He  was  always  ready  for  any 
good  work.  He  undertook  to  furnish  a  load  of  dry 
wood  as  quickly  as  possible.  Morrill  went  for  cloth- 
ing and  bedding,  and  Thayer  went  for  food.  In 
a  short  time  there  were  great  fires  blazing  in 
the  shanties,  abundance  of  warm,  secondhand  cloth- 
ing and  bedding,  and  more  food  than  they  had  ever 
seen  at  one  time  in  their  poor  habitations.  They  all 
became  jovial  and  hilarious  without  a  drop  of  rum. 
They  had  baskets  full  of  cooked  meats,  fowls,  vege- 
tables, bread,  cakes,  doughnuts,  pies,  etc.  Bangor 
people  do  nothing  by  halves,  and  the  scene  of  joy 
that  followed  was  characteristic  of  the  Irish  nation. 

In  a  small,  half-finished  house  right  opposite  we 
found  a  Mrs.  Cochrane,  with  a  poor  fire,  and  two 
little  girls  cowering  and  trembling  in  her  lap.  No 
fire  could  have  made  her  room  comfortable  in  that 
weather,  for  the  door  did  not  reach  the  sill  by  six 
inches.     Her  husband  had  o:one  to    Boston   to    find 


150 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


work.  Her  daily  expectation  of  hearing  from  him 
was  never  gratified.  She  seemed  to  be  paralyzed  by 
the  awful  cold.  We  made  a  great  fire,  and  Mr. 
Stackpole  obtained  a  piece  of  board  from  a  carpen- 
ter's shop  near  by  and  finished  out  the  door.  Mr. 
Morrill  obtained  some  clothing  for  the  little  girls. 
The  mother  was  very  grateful,  and  she  seemed  in 
some  respects  superior  to  any  of  the  Irish  women  we 
had  seen.  She  said  to  us  that  she  was  able  and  will- 
ing to  do  any  work,  in  washing,  in  cleaning  house, 
or  taking  care  of  the  sick.  She  did  n't  want  any 
assistance,  but  work.  I  secured  for  her  at  once  the 
sweeping  and  cleaning  of  seminary  rooms,  and  Mr. 
Stackpole  obtained  places  for  her  one  day  in  a  week 
or  one  day  in  a  fortnight  in  a  number  of  families, 
so  that  her  time  was  fully  employed  and  well  paid. 

Mr.  Morrill,  of  the  junior  class,  had  manifested  a 
wonderful  faculty  in  getting  the  Irish  children  to- 
gether Sunday  afternoons,  teaching  them  to  read  and 
to  commit  to  memory  passages  from  the  Bible.  The 
Ladies'  City  Missionary  Society  very  gladly  employed 
him  as  a  city  missionary  to  attend  expressly  to  the 
Irish.  The  drunken  priest  endeavored  in  vain  to 
exclude  him  from  their  houses. 

He  finally  succeeded  in  establishing  a  day  school 
for  them,  and  obtaining  an  excellent  teacher  who 
felt    a   real  missionary   interest    in    her  work.     Mrs. 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.   151 

Cochrane's  two  little  girls  went  to  that  school.  The 
priest  went  and  told  her  not  to  send  them  again. 
She  told  him  plainly  that  until  he  would  have  as 
good  a  school  her  children  would  continue  where 
they  were,  and  she  did  n't  want  to  hear  another  word 
from  his  lips  about  it.  He  became  so  violent  from 
time  to  time  that  she  quit  their  church  entirely  and 
went  to  Hammond  Street  Church,  of  which  she 
finally  became  a  member. 

Mrs.  Cochrane  informed  Mr.  Stackpole  that  at 
one  house  to  which  he  sent  her  for  work  they  de- 
clared that  they  had  heard  nothing  about  him,  and 
he  went  to  ascertain  the  fact.  The  lady  laughed  on 
his  entering  and  said  :  ''  I  came  to  the  conclusion  I 
was  wrong,  but  the  woman  said  Mr.  Stickerpole  and 
Mr.  Rumbelin  sent  her.  I  assured  her  no  such 
gentlemen  were  known  to  me,  and  I  packed  her  off, 
and  afterwards  I  thought  the  good  woman  meant 
Mr.  Stackpole  and  Mr.  Hamlin  ! "  The  eldest 
daughter  was  regarded  by  the  teacher  as  the 
brightest  girl  she  had  in  the  school  —  a  rank  which 
she  bore  in  every  school  into  which  she  entered. 

As  the  winter  went  on  there  was  any  amount  of 
drunkenness  and  rows  in  that  neighborhood.  Two 
of  those  rescued  men  had  become  very  sober  and 
industrious.  We  lent  them  money  to  buy  an  outfit 
for  sawing  and    splitting    wood,    a    wood    saw,  saw- 


152  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

horse,  a  few  files,  and  an  axe  —  about  three  dollars 
more  or  less.  These  were  Sullivan  and  O'Gorman. 
(O'Brien  had  recovered  and  gone  to  work  well-dig- 
ging.) Late  one  evening,  Sullivan  and  O'Gorman 
came  panting  to  my  room  and  said,  **  O  sir,  do  come 
quick  ;  they  are  tearing  our  house  down  and  killing 
the  women  and  childer  upstairs." 

I  rushed  up  to  Paddytown  to  see  what  I  could  do 
with  an  Irish  mob.  One  or  two  hundred  had  sur- 
rounded the  house  on  every  side,  and  not  a  window 
remained  whole.  I  rushed  in  among  them,  and  they 
began  to  pass  the  word,  "Hush!  the  young  praste 
has  come  ! "  They  perhaps  thought  it  was  Morrill, 
for  he  was  their  ''young  praste,"  and  some  did  not 
hesitate  to  declare  that  he  was  a  truer  "praste"  than 
their  old  drunken  bruiser. 

The  missiles  stopped,  and  I  went  up  at  once  where 
a  new  family  had  finished  off  a  room.  It  was  a 
sight  to  see.  There  was  a  baby  that  seemed  to  be 
having  a  good  time  in  a  cradle,  into  the  foot  of 
which  a  stone  had  fallen  which  must  have  weighed 
three  or  four  pounds.  It  would  have  inevitably 
killed  the  child  had  it  fallen  upon  it.  Another  child 
of  four  or  five  was  sitting  upon  the  floor  in  the 
corner,  out  of  the  range  of  missiles,  and  was  actually 
singing  to  itself  and  playing  with  some  straws  and 
sticks. 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.    153 

In  searching  into  the  cause  of  the  row  I  found  it 
was  from  a  feud  having  its  origin  in  "  swate  Ireland," 
and  set  on  fire  by  alcohol.  The  assaulters  were 
arrested  by  the  city  marshal,  and  they  were  made 
to  pay  the  damages.  These  were  heavy  enough  to 
secure  the  peace  of  the  quarter  for  the  future. 
What  amazed  me  was  the  sacredness  of  my  person 
in  that  excited  mob  as  "  the  young  praste." 

Mr.  Morrill's  influence  became  so  great  in  Paddy- 
town  as  to  alarm  the  bishop  in  Boston.  He  recalled 
the  drunken  fellow,  who  was  generally  hated,  and 
sent  a  more  decent  and  crafty  man  to  oppose  him. 
Mrs.  Cochrane  remained  true  to  her  faith  to  extreme 
old  age,  and  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven  died  in  peace 
and  hope. 

This  middle  year  was  made  remarkable  in  our 
seminary  experience  by  a  number  of  things.  Our 
much-beloved  Professor  Bond,  left  us  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year,  from  ill  health  in  part,  more,  as  we 
students  believed,  from  poverty.  He  had  a  small 
salary,  and  the  treasury  was  rarely  able  to  pay  that 
on  time. 

Professor  Pond  put  in  all  his  strength  and  his  in- 
defatigable labor  to  remedy  this  discouraging  state 
of  things.  One  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  sub- 
scribed, and  Leonard  Woods  was  chosen  to  fill  the 
vacant    professorship.     His    brilliant    reputation    for 


154  ^^^  L^P^  ^^^    TIMES. 

scholarship  and  genius,  and  the  financial  success  of  the 
subscription,  filled  all  with  joy.  He  was  an  inspira- 
tion to  every  student.  Our  studies  in  theology  with 
Dr.  Pond  were  very  absorbing,  and  were  conducted 
in  a  way  to  make  us  think  for  ourselves. 

The  seminary  received  another  and  still  greater 
addition  in  the  election  of  Professor  Shepherd,  of 
Hallowell,  as  professor  of  sacred  rhetoric.  He  was 
a  man  of  power,  and  his  inspiration  as  a  teacher  was 
very  marked.  In  preaching  he  was  a  Boanerges,, 
and  few  have  surpassed  him  in  the  power  of  vigor- 
ous thought  in  vigorous  English.  In  his  lectures  he. 
would  impress  a  point  with  some  phrase  that  would 
never  be  forgotten.  In  advising  us  to  hit  the  nail  on 
the  head  he  cautioned  us  against  *'  driving  the  spike 
so  as  to  split  the  plank."  He  used  to  say:  "The 
spurt  of  the  spigot  is  never  higher  than  the  water  in 
the  cask,  unless  tJiere  is  a  pressure  of  gas.''  Still  he 
did  not  aim  at  such  expressions  ;  they  came  naturally 
to  him,  and  always  produced  a  ripple  in  the  class. 
His  memory  is  blessed. 

During  the  middle  year  I  fell  into  close  connec- 
tion with  the  Bangor  Lyceum.  My  college  class- 
mate. Chandler,  a  law  student,  a  young  lawyer  of  the 
city,  and  myself,  were  the  committee  of  arrange- 
ments. It  was  proposed  to  build  a  theater  ;  and  in 
order  to  gain  public  favor  the  topic  appointed  by  a 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.    155 

vote  was,  "The  theater  has  a  beneficial,  intellectual, 
and  moral  influence  upon  society."  After  a  number 
of  changes  in  the  appointments  I  was  compelled  to 
take  the  negative ;  a  young  lawyer  took  the  affirma- 
tive. I  stood  alone  for  three  nights,  for  it  was 
adjourned  from  week  to  week. 

The  contention  was  sharp,  and  the  party  brought 
out  its  forces.  I  found  splendid  matter  in  Plato  and 
Rousseau.  The  translations  of  Plato  were  by  Rous- 
seau. I  found  a  vast  amount  of  able  philosophical 
and  historical  discussion  of  the  question,  and  those 
whom  I  asked  to  come  to  my  help  declined,  saying, 
"You  are  doing  very  well."  The  tide  set  against 
the  theater  all  along.  The  party  petered  out.  When 
it  came  to  a  vote  there  were  but  four  or  five  boldly 
on  the  affirmative. 

This  discussion  gave  me  some  repute  in  the  city, 
but  in  one  instance  more  than  was  just.  I  had  been 
to  Portland  to  recruit,  after  too  much  watching  with 
typhoid  fever  cases,  and  returning  in  the  mail  stage 
there  were  Senator  Anderson,  of  Portland,  and  a  law 
professor  from  Harvard  and  a  Harvard  law  student 
in  the  coach.  The  conversation  fell  upon  a  certain 
great  actor,  and  I  made  some  derogatory  remark 
upon  the  intellectual  influence  of  the  theater.  The 
law  student  and  the  theologue  had  miles  of  lively 
argument  in  to  Bangor.      I  did  not  think  he  had  any 


156  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

reason  for  exultation,  and  the  senator  and  the  pro- 
fessor complimented  me  on  the  extent  and  accuracy 
of  my  reading.  I  felt  rather  cheap  in  saying,  "  It  is 
a  subject  which  has  often  interested  me,"  whereas  I 
should  have  said,  "I  have  just  had  a  great  debate 
upon  it."  I  have  often  had  more  reputation  than 
belonged  to  me.  In  1877  I  found  some  persons  in 
Bangor  who  recalled  that  debate.  It  put  back  the 
theater  project  for  that  time. 

During  the  year  Mr.  Stackpole  and  I  became  fre- 
quently associated  in  the  temperance  question.  We 
were  appointed  by  the  Penobscot  Temperance  Soci- 
ety to  correspond  with  physicians  and  obtain  an 
expression  of  their  views  upon  the  use  of  cider.  It 
had  special  reference  to  the  farming  community. 
Mr.  Stackpole  was  in  business,  which  allowed  him 
more  time  for  writing,  and  he  held  the  pen.  We 
were  surprised  and  delighted  with  the  general  una- 
nimity of  their  testimony  to  its  injurious  effects.  It 
led  to  the  including  of  cider  in  the  pledge. 

I  was  appointed  to  give  the  address  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  society.  I  felt  called  upon  to  do  my 
best. 

I  fell  upon  a  fortunate  train  of  remark,  as  an  ex- 
ordium, that  all  true  reforms  have  certain  underlying 
principles  that  may  be  easily  stated  and  usually  con- 
densed into  mottoes.     I  ventured  to  suggest  a  motto 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.    1 57 

for  the  temperance  reform  :  *'  Light,  Love,  and  Law." 
(i)  Moral  suasion  ;  (2)  benevolent  action  toward  the 
victims  ;  but  (3)  the  restraint  of  law.  It  was  the 
first  prohibitory  argument  I  had  known,  and  I  knew 
it  would  stir  up  some  wrath.  But  in  the  evening 
meeting  for  general  discussion  Dr.  Pomeroy  agreed 
to  that  proposition,  and  I  found  more  to  accept  it 
than  I  had  dared  to  hope  for.  I  have  never  changed 
my  mind  since.  I  have  the  credit  of  doing  two  first 
things  in  Maine  :  I  made  the  first  steam  engine  ever 
made  in  the  state,  and  I  made  the  first  prohibitory 
law  address.  Of  the  first  I  am  quite  sure,  of  the 
second  not  so  sure.  There  may  have  been  a  dozen 
similar  ones;  but  Neal  Dow  had  not  then  come 
forward  into  the  work,  and  my  argument  fell  dead. 
All  I  can  say  is,  *'  So  far  as  I  know." 

Mr.  Stackpole  liked  the  address  greatly,  and  he 
took  me  out   into   neighboring  towns   to   deliver  it. 

At  one  town  we  dined  at  the  house  of  the  chief 
man,  who  was  conveniently  away  from  home.  His 
wife  was  a  lively  piece,  and  very  enthusiastic  for 
temperance.  She  had  a  remarkable  memory  withal, 
and  gave  us  a  splendid  dinner.  She  contrived  to 
pay  the  speaker  many  compliments,  using  sentences 
from  the  address.  I  invariably  comphmented  some- 
thing in  the  dinner.  When  Mr.  Stackpole  perceived 
that  we  were  keeping  up  that  running  fire,  he  had 


I  eg  MY  UFE  AND    TIMES, 

hard  work  to  contain  himself.  He  afterwards  took 
hold  of  that  man  and  brought  him  into  the  temper- 
ance fold,  where  he  became  a  useful  worker. 

Not  long  after  my  third  year  had  commenced 
(October,  1836),  I  sent  in  my  written  statement  of 
readiness  to  enter  the  missionary  work,  wherever 
the  Prudential  Committee  should  think  best,  only 
expressing  a  special  interest  in  China,  as  Africa  had 
been  declared  out  of  the  question.  One  of  the  sec- 
retaries, Rev.  William  Armstrong,  had  told  me  that 
I  might  expect  a  definite  appointment  very  early  in 
the  spring,  and  he  saw  no  reason  to  doubt  that  China 
would  be  my  field. 

On  the  fourth  of  February,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
I  took  three  letters  out  of  the  Bangor  post  office, 
and  read  them  as  I  walked  up  Hammond  Street 
toward  the  seminary.  One  was  from  my  brother, 
another  from  Hon.  A.  D.  Foster ;  the  third  was  in 
a  handwriting  I  did  not  recognize.  I  opened  it,  one 
or  two  hundred  steps  from  the  seminary,  on  Ohio 
Street.  It  was  from  Dr.  Armstrong,  appointing  me 
to  Constantinople  and  to  Education.  I  was  pro- 
foundly affected  by  thus  being  taken  up  by  the  Spirit 
and  instantly  transferred  from  China  to  the  Bospho- 
rus.  It  seemed  as  though  some  physical  influence 
had  descended  upon  me  from  the  clouds.  I  has- 
tened to  my  room,  and  was  glad   I  could  be  alone ; 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANG  OK.    159 

my  chum  was  out.  I  took  the  map,  and  contemplated 
the  route  no  doubt  traversed  by  a  Boston  "rum  and 
missionary  "  vessel  to  Smyrna. 

"Well !  well !  "  I  said,  "what  does  this  mean  ?  It 
means  a  good  work,  excellent  and  noble  associates, 
Goodell,  Dwight,  Schauffler,  Holmes,  and,  at  Broosa, 
Schneider  and  Powers." 

I  had  read  their  journals  with  so  much  interest  that 
I  felt  acquainted  with  them.  "  The  climate  is  unsur- 
passed ;  it  is  on  the  borders  of  civilization.  There  are 
physicians  there.  If  Henrietta  Jackson  has  a  predis- 
position to  pulmonary  disease,  she  will  live  longer 
there  than  here  ;  and  now,  as  I  live,  I  will  know  from 
her  own  self  whether  she  will  go  with  me  and  share 
my  life  in  that  great  work."  The  story  of  my  social 
life  I  have  written  separately,  and  all  the  changes 
through  which  that  problem  passed  are  there  re- 
corded. A  strange  Providence  led  the  blind  in  a 
way  they  knew  not,  for  all  which  they  blessed  the 
Lord. 

When  I  went  to '  Bangor  I  found  there  an  old 
friend,  Albert  Titcomb,  who  was  in  Mr.  Farley's 
shop  when  I  went  to  Portland  in  1827.  He  it 
was  who  helped  me  along  in  my  spiritual  life, 
and  for  whom  I  have  always  cherished  a  grateful 
affection.  He  has  a  decided  gift  in  prayer.  He  still 
lives  and  prays  at  the  age  of  ninety-one  or  two.     And 


l60  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

there,  among  others,  I  formed  a  friendship  with 
Mr.  J.  T.  Hardy,  the  portrait  painter.  That  friend- 
ship continues,  although  he  has  passed  over  in 
good  old  age. 

Morrill's  health  had  been  failing  all  the  year. 
Indeed,  he  was  in  a  diseased  condition  when  he 
entered.  In  the  winter  of  1836-37  he  broke  down 
repeatedly.  Determined  not  to  give  up,  he  would 
rally  again,  but  at  length  took  to  his  room,  and  finally 
to  his  bed.  He  saw  the  approach  of  the  messenger 
from  afar  and  said :  "  Here  am  I,  Lord ;  thy  servant 
waiteth."  I  was  much  with  him  by  day  and  night. 
He  gave  me  his  Bible,  and  wished  me  to  send  it  to 
Miss  A ,  to  whom  he  was  engaged,  with  the  assur- 
ance that  his  chief  pain  in  leaving  this  world  was  that 
they  must  be  separated  for  a  season.  During  the 
last  night  his  thirst  was  great.  Tamarind  water  had 
been  his  favorite  drink,  but  now  the  acid,  he  said, 
burned  his  throat.  I  sweetened  it,  and  then  it  did 
not  quench  his  thirst.  I  made  every  combination  I 
could,  but  in  vain.  He  gave  it  up,  saying,  "■  They 
shall  thirst  no  more." 

His  last  hours  were  not  merely  peaceful;  they 
were  joyful.  He  felt  that  his  Lord  had  come  and 
called  for  him. 

At  his  funeral  from  Hammond  Street  Church,  the 
Irish  in  large  numbers  waited  outside  the  church,  in 


SEMINARY  LIFE  AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.    l6l 

a  cold  snowy  day,  and  followed  us  in  a  crowd  to  the 
cemetery.  Professor  Leonard  Woods,  looking  upon 
it,  said :  "  I  would  rather  be  followed  by  such  a  crowd 
of  the  poor  than  by  all  the  titled  heads  of  Europe." 

I  wrote  to  Miss  A that  I  would  keep  the  Bible 

until  I  could  deliver  it  to  her  in  person,  with  his  last 
message.  The  stage  passed  her  father's  house  in 
New  Hampshire  and  kindly  stopped,  while  I  delivered 
the  Bible  and  the  message.  She  maintained  the 
self-control  of  Christian  faith,  but  tears  flowed  abun- 
dantly. Her  countenance  bore  the  impress  of  grief. 
Forty  years  after  I  found  a  few  Irish  who  remem- 
bered Mr.  Morrill. 

Our  graduating  exercises  filled  Hammond  Street 
Church  to  the  last  seat.  The  class  song,  a  fare- 
well hymn,  was  composed  for  us  by  Mrs.  Sigourney. 
I  think  we  sent  her  a  book  and  ten  dollars,  with 
our  warmest  thanks,  and  not  as  any  adequate  com- 
pensation. 

PARTING   HYMN   PREPARED   FOR   THE   OCCASION 
BY   MRS.    SIGOURNEY. 

Farewell !     We  go  !  we  go  ! 
Brethren,  tell  us  whither? 
Murmuring  long  and  low 
In  her  heathen  woe 
Asia  calls  us  hither. i 

*  Of  the  graduating  class,  one  is  expected  to  be  stationed  in  Asia,  one  in  Africa, 
one  in  Constantinople,  and  the  remainder  as  pastors  of  churches  in  our  own  country. 


1 62  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

Sad  Afric  loads  the  gale 
With  her  prayerful  weeping 
For  the  mission  sail, 
Till  the  stars  prevail, 
Still  her  lone  watch  keeping. 

Doth  the  proud  Moslem  sigh? 
Haste  !  show  his  blinded  nation 
Hope  that  cannot  die  — 
Heaven  our  home  on  high 
Jesus  our  salvation. 

We  go  !     Farewell !  farewell ! 
Brethren,  tell  us  whither? 
Hark!  yon  village  bell, 
With  its  tuneful  swell, 
Sweetly  warns  us  thither. 

So  from  their  pastures  far, 
Flocks  are  onward  pressing. 
For  a  shepherd's  care, 
For  a  teacher's  prayer, 
For  a  pastor's  blessing. 

Farewell !     With  joyful  feet 
We'll  bear  salvation's  story. 
Brethren,  may  we  meet 
At  the  judgment  seat. 
With  our  crowns  of  glory ! 

Our  Commencement,  that  is,  termination,  over, 
chum  and  I  sold  off  our  things.  My  shovel  and 
tongs  passed  through  various  hands,  with  my  initials 


SEMINARY  LIFE   AND    TIMES  AT  BANGOR.   1 63 

on  them,  and  more  than  forty  years  after  they  were 
sent  to  one  of  my  daughters  by  Rev.  S.  H.  Hayes. 
We  made  our  brief  farewell  calls  in  the  city,  and 
were  surprised  to  find  how  many  friends  we  had. 

I  called  Mrs.  Cochrane  to  wash  up  and  thoroughly 
clean  our  room.  I  gave  her  a  pistareen  (twenty 
cents). 

She  took  it,  turned  it  over,  looking  at  it,  and  then 
said  :  "  They  tell  me,  Mr.  Hamlin,  you  are  going  to 
those  Merhammedans  the  minister  spoke  about  yes- 
terday." 

"  Yes,  Mrs.  Cochrane ;  I  am  going  right  off." 

'•'■  Well,  I  want  you  to  take  this  piece  of  money, 
and  perhaps  you  can  buy  'em  a  book  that  will  do 
their  souls  good." 

I  took  it,  and  it  increased  the  contributions  of 
a  number  of  monthly  concerts.  A  stranger  passing 
out  in  the  crowd  said :  "  That  poor  Irishwoman's 
pistareen  put  one  five-dollar  bill  into  the  contribu- 
tion box." 

In  the  moonlight  evening,  Thayer  and  I  took  a  very 
late  walk  to  the  Mount  Hope  Cemetery,  to  see  the 
lot  that  had  been  purchased  for  the  seminary.  He 
and  I  had  chosen  our  last  sleeping  places  on  heathen 
soil,  hence  the  somewhat  sentimental  yet  Christian 
visit  to  the  consecrated  resting  place  of  those  whom 
God  should  call  from  our  beloved  seminary. 


1 64  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

After  our  return,  when  absolute  silence  reigned  in 
the  hall,  and  I  was  reviewing  my  three  Bangor  years, 
I  heard  a  solitary  step  mounting  the  stairways,  and 
it  came  to  Number  lo.  The  messenger  brought  me 
a  beautiful  farewell  note  from  Mrs.  Crosby.  I  pre- 
served it  carefully,  but  am  now  unable  to  find  it  or  I 
would  insert  it.  With  the  banknote  enclosed  I  pur- 
chased as  memorials  Milton's  poetical  works  in  two 
volumes,  which  have  done  such  good  service  in  our 
family. 

In  the  morning,  with  feelings  of  gratitude  to  God 
and  love  to  all  those  faithful  friends,  farewell  to 
Bangor,  welcome  Constantinople! 


CHAPTER   VIT. 

A  year's  delay. 

T  HAD  to  leave  Bangor  with  a  debt  of  1^72,  which 
-*-  the  American  Board  must  pay,  or  give  me  time 
to  raise  the  money.  But  I  hastened  to  the  Mission- 
ary Rooms  on  Cornhill,  expecting  then  to  receive 
orders  to  be  married,  ordained,  and  sent  off  in  the 
course  of  three  weeks.     The  secretaries  were  somber. 

**We  have  no  cheerful  news  to  tell  you,  Mr. 
Hamlin,"  they  said.  "The  vessel  that  was  up  for 
Smyrna  will  not  sail  for  that  port,  and  the  merchants 
can  give  us  no  encouragement  for  any  other.  The 
financial  condition  of  the  country  is  such  that  we 
are  in  great  trouble  about  the  support  of  existing 
missions,  and  we  can  send  no  reinforcements  until 
there  shall  be  a  change." 

"  How  long  do  you  think  I  may  have  to  wait, 
Dr.   Anderson  ?'*' 

'*  I  hope  not  more  than  four  or  five  months. 
There  must  be  a  change  for  the  better  before  long." 

"  What  shall  I  do,  then  ?  I  do  not  wish  to  be 
married  and  hung  out  to  dry  with  nothing  to  do  and 
nowhere  to  go.'* 

166 


1 66  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

"That's  a  very  right  view  to  take  of  that  ques- 
tion. For  the  present,  there  are  annual  meetings 
of  county  conferences  in  New  Hampshire  we  would 
like  to  have  you  attend  as  agent  of  the  Board. 
After  that,  if  you  are  invited  to  supply  any  vacant 
pulpit  for  a  few  weeks,  accept  the  call.  It  will  be 
a  good  preparation  for  missionary  work." 

The  time  before  the  first  meeting  was  sufficient 
to  allow  of  a  visit  to  Dorset.  We  adjourned  our 
marriage  until  the  financial  atmosphere  should  clear. 
We  felt  that  God's  good  providence  and  grace  had 
so  plainly  guided  us  that  we  could  peacefully  wait 
for  the  clouds  to  blow  over.  We  were  very  happy 
in  our  choice. 

I  met  Beach  at  Dr.  Jackson's  house,  and  it  is 
probable  we  had  a  good  time.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Jack- 
son were  saints  of  the  Most  High,  ripening  for 
glory.  Dr.  Jackson  formed  the  first  education  so- 
ciety in  this  country,  and  had  been  connected  with 
all  the  religious  and  educational  movements  in  Ver- 
mont. Mrs.  Jackson  watched  the  signs  of  the 
times,  and  kept  in  her  field  of  view  all  the  great 
political  and  religious  movements  of  the  world.  A 
descendant  of  John  Rogers,  she  had  the  martyr's 
consecrated  spirit  in  that  beautiful  and  peaceful 
valley.  We  had  long  and  animated  discussions  of 
the   past,   present,    and   future ;   but    the   days    fled 


A    YEAR'S  DELAY. 


167 


swiftly,  and  I  had  to  go  to  the  meetings  in  New 
Hampshire.  The  family  were  glad  to  have  the  stay 
of  the  beloved  daughter  prolonged,  but  were  grieved 
at  its  cause. 

My  meetings  at  the  county  conference  were 
extremely  interesting  and  profitable  to  myself. 
Orford,  Acvvorth,  Nelson,  Milford  —  all  have  pleasant, 
sacred  memories.  In  Milford  I  saw  one  lovely  dying 
saint,  the  wife  of  the  pastor.  From  her  chamber  she 
pointed  out  the  place  of  her  burial,  that  in  future 
years  perhaps  I  might  visit  it,  should  I  be  passing 
by.  Fifty-four  years  afterwards  I  went  to  the  place, 
but  her  remains  had  been  removed.  I  recently 
(1892)  met  a  man  from  Acworth,  who  said  my  visit 
there  was  still  remembered  by  a  very  few. 

I  passed  a  night  at  Hanover,  with  the  distin 
guished  surgeon,  Dr.  Muzzey,  with  whom  I  became 
acquainted  in  Brunswick  over  my  steam  engine,  and 
who  tried  to  make  a  surgeon  of  me.  He  was  a 
devout  Christian  man. 

One  of  the  old  professors  of  Dartmouth  took  me 
in  his  chaise  and  carried  me  to  Orford.  He  told 
me  characteristic  stories  of  Dr.  Jackson  and  Dr. 
Goodell,  whom  he  had  known  in  their  early  youth. 
They  both  had  the  wit  in  them  that  was  always 
there  unto  the  end.  Memory  still  lingers  about 
those  places  where  I  first  appeared  as  an  agent  of 


1 68  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

the  Board.  I  cannot  find  that  one  of  the  ministers 
is  Hving,  although  some  were  quite  young.  The 
Home  Missionary  Agent  was  of  my  age,  and  if  we 
did  not  fight  the  beasts  at  Ephesus,  we  fought  the 
mosquitoes  at  Nelson  all  night  long,  and  made  less 
eloquent  speeches  the  next  day. 

I  returned  from  the  service  to  Portland  to  see 
what  I  should  do.  The  first  thing  was  to  pay  my  debt 
at  Bangor.  Dr.  Chickering,  of  Portland,  had  a  num- 
ber of  places  in  view.  I  wanted  one  that  would  give 
me  fifty  dollars  a  month  and  board,  and  then  I  would 
pay  my  debt  and  call  upon  the  Board  for  less  outfit. 
I  preached  in  the  Payson  church  two  of  the  three 
written  sermons  that  I  had  not  preached  there,  and 
then  I  went  up  to  the  dear  home  in  Waterford.  A 
letter  followed  me  there  asking  me  to  supply  the 
pulpit  till  they  could  find  the  right  man  to  settle.  I 
think  the  pay  was  ^15  a  week  ;  I  would  engage  only 
for  a  short  trial.  I  supplied  the  first  Sunday  by 
preaching  myself  in  the  morning,  and  then  getting 
an  exchange  for  the  afternoon.  Monday  morning, 
I  had  nothing  for  the  pulpit,  but  I  had  on  my  hands 
the  Payson  church  and  congregation,  two  services, 
morning  and  afternoon,  and  a  large  Bible  class  in 
the  vestry  in  the  evening,  a  week-day  meeting  in 
the  evening,  funerals  to  attend,  and  the  sick  to  visit. 

The  good  people  pitied  my  youth,  and  bore  with 


A    YEAR'S  DELAY.  1 69 

me.  They  knew  I  did  the  best  I  could,  and  their 
charity  suppUed  the  rest.  I  remained  there  seven 
months.  The  committee  of  supply  proposed  to  me 
to  let  my  name  go  before  the  church  for  a  call.  It 
greatly  surprised  me,  and  I  of  course  refused  ;  but  the 
great  reward  was  that  some  six  or  eight  young  people 
were  gathered  into  the  church,  who  have  honored 
their  profession  by  earnest  Christian  lives.  It  was  a 
noble  church.  *'  Payson  Christians  "  they  were,  and 
Mrs.  Payson  and  her  family  were  still  its  strength  and 
ornament.  I  wonder  that  I  supported  as  I  did  those 
labors  so  far  beyond  my  strength  and  experience. 

My  college  friend,  George  L.  Prentiss,  was  spend- 
ing the  winter  in  Portland,  and  we  had  an  evening 
every  week  with  Shakespeare,  which  we  enjoyed 
very  much.  When  he  left  for  Europe,  I  wrote 
him  a  note,  advising  him  that  if  in  the  future  he 
should  be  considering  the  subject  of  marriage,  not  to 
pass  by  Lizzie  Payson,  for  she,  although  so  young, 
had  such  and  such  characteristics.  He  claims  that 
I  delineated  her  character  by  inspiration.  On  his 
return  from  Europe  he  followed  my  advice. 

My  seven  months  were  bounded  by  the  settlement 
of  Dr.  Condit ;  and  I  left  for  Worcester,  to  fill  an 
interregnum  in  the  Union  Church,  of  which  my 
cousin,  benefactor,  and  friend,  Hon.  A.  D.  Foster, 
was  one  of  the  founders,  in  connection  with  Ichabod 


I70  MV    LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Washburn.  I  look  back  upon  those  seven  months 
as  having  been  a  very  useful  part  of  my  missionary 
training.  The  associate  Congregational  ministers, 
Dr.  Dwight  and  Dr.  Chickering,  sustained  and 
strengthened  me  most  generously.  It  was  largely 
through  their  cooperation  that  my  brief  ministry, 
overweighted  with  heavy  duties,  was  not  a  failure. 

I  ought  not  to  pass  over  the  "Armenian  Circle," 
a  missionary  society  of  young  ladies  which  did  for 
years  earnest  missionary  work.  I  always  received  a 
warm  welcome  in  that  church  while  any  of  that 
*' generation  that  knew  Joseph"  survived.  The 
number  is  now,  after  almost  fifty-four  years,  very 
small,  but  it  is  delightful  to  meet  the  few. 

In  one  of  my  visits,  an  aged  lady  desired  to  see 
me.  I  did  not  recall  her  name,  but  when  she  spoke 
of  the  funeral  of  her  child  I  remembered  it,  and  told 
her  it  was  the  first  funeral  at  which  I  had  officiated,, 
and  that  the  circumstances  were  very  touching. 
The  next  day  her  husband,  a  sea  captain,  had  to  leave 
for  a  long  voyage.  He  returned  a  praying  man.  He 
told  his  wife  that  '*  that  young  fellow's  prayer  at  the 
funeral  of  my  little  boy  changed  my  mind  about  reli- 
gion, and  I  have  found  that  the  only  religion  that  is 
good  for  anything  is  a  praying  religion."  The  Spirit 
of  God  can  speak  to  the  soul  of  the  veteran  seaman 
through  the  prayer  of  a  youth.     Another  seaman,. 


A    YEAR'S  DELAY. 


171 


Captain  Baker,  was  brought  to  Christ  by  my  youthful 
ministry. 

On  reaching  Worcester  Saturday,  I  was  delighted 
to  find  the  pulpit  engaged  for  the  two  following  Sab- 
baths so  that  I  could  rest.  The  Baptists,  however, 
were  seeking  a  supply,  and  I  preached  for  them.  I 
got  through  with  the  service  of  the  day  painfully. 
The  reaction  was  greater  than  I  had  anticipated.  My 
noble  cousins,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Foster,  kindly  suggested 
that  the  air  and  scenery  of  the  Green  Mountains  were 
just  what  I  needed  to  bring  me  up  to  time.  I  had 
thirteen  days  before  me.  I  should  take  his  horse  and 
chaise  Monday  morning,  promising  to  return  them 
Saturday  week,  with  sermons  ready  for  the  day  follow- 
ing. I  was  quite  overwhelmed  by  so  much  kindness 
and  consideration,  and  I  agreed  fully  as  to  the  tonic 
effect  of  the  Dorset  air.  The  journey  was  every  way 
a  delightful  one,  and  the  week  in  Dorset  was  a 
section  of  paradise  regained. 

The  Union  Church  in  Worcester  was  chiefly 
composed  of  young  mechanics  and  their  families. 
Messrs.  Foster  and  Washburn  foreknew  the  destined 
growth  of  the  place  and  the  need  of  this  new  church. 
For  some  years  they  bore  the  financial  burden,  but  it 
grew  rapidly  into  independent  existence.  My  ser- 
mons were  kindly  received,  and  one  of  the  committee 
earnestly  proposed  that,  as    I    had  waited   almost  a 


172  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

year  and  there  was  no  probability  of  any  great  finan- 
cial improvement,  I  should  accept  a  call  to  settle- 
ment. I  replied  firmly :  "  Not  until  the  Board  sends 
me  notice  of  my  unsolicited  release  will  I  allow  any 
such  proposal  to  be  made." 

In  recently  visiting  Worcester  (1891)  I  found  four 
members  of  that  church  still  living,  each  past  the 
age  of  eighty,  each  one  older  than  myself.  One  of 
them,  Mr.  Albert  Curtiss,  known  in  Worcester 
County  for  his  generous  gifts,  subscribed  ;^500  to 
the  Pera  church  fund  for  which  I  was  then  working. 
We  five  might  meet  together  and,  looking  back  on 
the  fifty  years,  say:  "Of  the  250  members,  we  only 
survive."  The  church  has  been  a  large,  prosperous, 
influential  church. 

I  boarded  at  Mr.  Foster's.  It  was  a  model  famil) 
He  was  a  true  Christian  gentleman,  and  the  Chris- 
tian was  always  predominant.  He  was  universally 
loved  and  honored  and  admired.  Mrs.  Foster  lived 
to  advanced  age  ;  I  believe  to  eighty-three.  She  was 
a  refined,  lovely  lady,  and  grew  more  lovely  to  the 
end.  Among  my  valued  keepsakes  is  a  heavy  afghan 
which  she  made  with  her  own  hands,  at  the  age  of 
eighty.  Their  son  and  two  daughters  have  been 
among  the  choicest  friends  of  my  old  age. 

In  the  early  part  of  August,  I  felt  that  the  Board 
ought  to  make  some  decision  about  my  future.     A 


A    YEAR'S  DELAY.  I  73 

year  and  six  months  had  passed  since  I  received  my 
appointment.  Four  of  those  appointed  at  nearly  the 
same  time  had  received  calls  and  were  settled  pas- 
tors. I  wanted  some  limit,  but  I  suggested  that  it 
was  time  to  break  the  ice  and  make  a  move.  I  knew 
too  that  this  was  Dr.  Anderson's  opinion.  A  reply 
came  that  was  startling.  A  vessel  would  sail  Sep- 
tember 12  for  Smyrna.  If  I  could  be  legally 
married,  and  get  to  Boston  by  September  6,  I  might 
be  ordained,  and  have  time  to  complete  my  outfit, 
which  at  that  date  was  a  very  important  matter. 
September  3  was  fixed  upon  as  our  wedding  day,  the 
earliest  date  at  which  the  demands  of  the  laws  of 
Maine  and  Vermont  could  be  complied  with.  The 
ladies  of  the  Portland  church  sent  me  a  wedding  suit 
from  Messrs.  Steven  &  Downes,  who  had  my  measure. 

The  wedding  is  so  well  described  by  Mrs.  Law- 
rence, in  Light  on  the  Dark  River,  pages  104  to  107, 
that  I  will  pass  over  it  entirely.  Of  the  adults  pres- 
ent at  the  solemnities,  only  one  survives  (1893),  at 
the  age  of  102,  Mrs.  Deacon  Gray,  of  Dorset. 

I  reached  Boston  to  hear  that  no  vessel  would  go 
to  Smyrna  at  present,  but  there  would  be  one  in  a 
month  or  two.  We  waited  till  December  3,  just 
three  months. 

I  attended  the  meeting  of  the  Board  in  Portland, 
the  last  of  September,  and  was  ordained  October  3, 


174 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


right  after  the  meeting.  I  saw  Mary  Lyon  at  that 
meeting,  and  had  considerable  interesting  discussion 
about  education.  My  young  wife  was  very  cordially 
and  affectionately  received  by  Portland  friends. 
Then  we  went  to  Waterford,  for  the  dear  mother 
must  bid  farewell  to  her  youngest  and  most  tenderly 
cared  for  son.  It  was  a  great  gratification  to  her 
and  sister  Susan  to  see  the  wife  I  had  chosen.  They 
thought  her  very  lovely,  gentle,  considerate,  firm,  and 
my  dear  mother  said  she  could  rejoice  to  yield  her 
place  to  such  an  one. 

"No,  mother,"  I  said,  "your  place  can  never  be 
taken  by  another.  It  is  a  brand-new  place  that  is 
taken,  and  it  only  edges  on  yours." 

Our  parting  finally  took  place  in  Portland.  Will 
not  such  partings  be  recalled  when  we  reach  the 
shore  "  where  farewells  are  a  word  unknown  "  }  Not 
one  of  the  ministers  is  living  (1893)  who  had  part  in 
my  ordination. 

Just  fifty  years  after  my  ordination,  October  3,  1887, 
I  was  present  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  the 
Payson  Church.  Rev.  J.  W.  Chickering,  d.d.,  then  the 
only  survivor,  was  there  present,  and  again  we  stood 
in  the  same  pulpit  —  no,  not  the  same.  The  pastor. 
Rev.  Mr.  Daniels,  who  gave  the  centennial  history  of 
the  church,  found  no  records  of  the  church  during 
my -short  ministry,  and  my  name  nowhere  appears. 


A    YEAR'S  DELAY.  1 75 

Evidently  one  book  of  records  had  been  lost.  There 
is  evidence,  however,  outside  of  church  records,  to 
prove  that  I  was  actually  there.  The  printed  ser- 
mon, charge,  and  right  hand  of  fellowship  at  my 
ordination  contain  references  to  prove  it,  and  there 
are  perhaps  twenty  living  witnesses  at  this  present 
date  (1893). 

At  length  our  passage  was  engaged  in  the  barque 
Eunomus,  Captain  Edward  Drew ;  first  mate  Hatch,  a 
genuine  old  salt,  and  second  mate  Freeman,  a  young 
and  ambitious  sailor,  whose  widow  and  daughter 
reside  in  Wakefield  in  easy  circumstances.  One 
daughter  is  a  successful  teacher  in  Hampton  Normal 
School,  Virginia. 

I  received  my  '*  instructions  "  from  Dr.  Anderson 
before  a  crowded  audience  in  Park  Street  Church, 
December  2,  and  we  embarked  the  following  day. 

If  I  should  mention  all  the  interesting  events  of 
these  last  days,  they  could  not  have  much  interest 
for  my  readers.  My  brother  came  from  Waterford  ; 
the  dear  Fosters  from  Worcester  ;  my  beloved  college 
friend,  Rev.  James  Means,  arrived  at  the  wharf  two 
minutes  late,  but  the  Eunomus  moved  so  slowly  that 
he  hurled  at  me  a  keepsake  which  fell  upon  the  deck, 
and  we  shook  hands  through  the  air.  Our  Jackson 
friends  at  Andover  chose  to  take  the  tender  farewell 
there.     Dr.   Samuel   Jackson    had   great    admiration 


176 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


and  love  for  his  sister  Henrietta,  but  he  never  op- 
posed her  choice.  He  wrote  a  very  noble  Christian 
letter  to  the  family,  so  soon  as  he  knew  what  pro- 
posal I  had  made  to  her.  Mrs.  Jackson  was  a  lady 
whom  no  one  could  know  without  loving  and  respect- 
ing and  remembering. 

It  was  a  bitter  cold  day  when  we  sailed.  There 
was  a  large  assembly  at  the  wharf  (India  Wharf),  and 
a  very  long  prayer  was  made  by  Dr.  Fay,  of  Charles- 
town.  We  came  near  martyrdom  before  reaching 
the  right  place.  Mr.  Foster's  white  handkerchief 
was  the  last  object  we  could  distinguish.  The  wind 
was  almost  a  gale,  and  the  shore  receded  very  fast. 
In  the  cabin  there  was  a  smoky  stove.  We  soon  got 
smoked  out  and  thawed  out,  and  we  tumbled  into 
our  bunks  to  begin  the  trying  experience  of  sea- 
sickness. On  the  third  day  I  threw  it  off  and  have 
not  been  troubled  with  it  since.  My  intense  anx- 
iety for  the  dear  wife  may  have  helped  me.  For 
two  weeks,  I  think,  she  only  rose  to  have  the  bed 
well  shaken  up,  and  that  always  caused  a  violent 
retching.  The  vo3^age  was  a  very  stormy  one. 
Once  we  had  to  "heave  to."  The  sea  was  in  its 
sublimest  mood  and  the  phosphorescence  of  the 
waves  revealed  their  towering  splendor  in  magnifi- 
cence indescribable.  The  seventeenth  day  of  the 
voyage  was  the  first  day  I  could  walk  the  deck  with- 


A    YEAR'S  DELAY. 


177 


out  having  my  feet  washed  by  the  waves.  On  the 
twenty-first  and  twenty-second  of  December,  when 
we  were  approaching  and  passing  through  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar,  the  sea  was  calm  and  beautiful. 

With  indescribable  emotions  we  looked  upon  the 
white  walls  of  Ccuta  of  the  African  coast.  There 
we  were,  Europe  on  the  left,  Africa  on  the  right. 
"O  Dark  Continent,"  I  apostrophized,  ''I  thought 
to  give  my  life  to  thee,  but  it  is  not  in  man  that 
walketh  to  direct  his  steps." 

My  dear,  pale,  emaciated  wife  could  sit  upon  the 
deck,  could  begin  to  take  some  food,  and  was  coming 
back  to  life.  Her  only  nourishment  had  been  a  few 
spoonfuls  of  gruel  each  day,  and  the  cook  wanted  to 
know  what  else  she  ate.  "■  Nothing  at  all."  "  Then," 
he  asked,  "  why  don't  she  die .?  "  A  whole  week  of 
calm  or  very  light  breezes  did  much  to  restore  her, 
and  to  put  the  seamen  out  of  humor. 

How  like  a  paradise  Sicily  looked  as  we  passed  her 
verdant  shores  a  few  miles  distant !  After  that  we 
had  some  very  rough  weather,  and  I  was  surprised 
to  find  the  Mediterranean  worse  than  the  Atlantic 
in  a  storm.  Instead  of  the  majestic  sweep  of  the 
Atlantic  billows,  the  Mediterranean  was  short, 
choppy,  and  violent.  On  the  eleventh  we  entered 
the  harbor  of  Milo  in  a  violent  storm.  The  harbor 
is  so  completely  landlocked  that   in   a  few   minutes 


178  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

our  gallant  barque  was  gently  anchored  as  in  a  placid 
lake. 

We  were  kept  here  by  the  storm  till  Monday,  the 
fifteenth,  when  we  got  under  way,  but  were  driven 
back  at  night.  Captain  Drew  and  I  made  an  inter- 
esting excursion  upon  the  island.  I  saw,  with  deep- 
est interest,  the  Greeks  in  their  own  country,  their 
costumes,  industries,  and  modes  of  living.  Their 
civilization  seemed  to  me  to  be  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
They  were  friendly  and  polite. 

A  young  sailor,  who  could  talk  some  English,  came 
on  board  to  inquire  for  his  captain,  Alexandros,  who 
had  gone  to  Boston  to  get  his  insurance  on  his  lost 
vessel.  He  owed  the  sailor,  and  promised  to  pay 
him  out  of  that.  I  had  been  on  board  that  Greek 
vessel  in  the  port  of  Boston  some  years  before,  and 
the  Greek  sailor  and  I  agreed  that  we  had  talked  or 
tried  to  talk  with  each  other  there.  The  Greeks  lost 
their  vessels  so  often  and  conveniently  to  themselves 
that  the  European  insurance  offices  came  to  an 
understanding  not  to  insure  Greek  vessels.  This 
was  a  terrible  blow  to  Greek  commerce,  and  it 
brought  them  to  their  senses. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  January,  1839,  we  reached 
Smyrna  and  stepped  on  Asiatic  soil,  forty-five  days 
from  Boston.  We  felt  grateful  for  all  the  experience 
we  had  had  of  the  guiding  and  protecting  Hand,  from 


A    YEAR'S  DELAY.  179 

the  day  we  left  the  Green  Mountain  home,  four  and 
a  half  months  agone,  to  that  hour.  We  saw,  more- 
over, one  of  the  Seven  Churches,  and  perhaps  the 
birthplace  of  Homer.  We  could  look  up  to  the  place 
of  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp.  We  had  reached  the 
lands  of  the  Bible  and  of  ancient  history. 

Our  reception  by  the  missionaries,  Temple,  Adger, 
and  Riggs,  was  most  cordial.  After  ten  days'  re- 
freshing intercourse,  we  left  in  the  steamer  Stam- 
boul,  of  which  we  had  read  in  America.  It  was, 
I  believe,  the  first  steamer  that  opened  regular  com- 
munication between  Smyrna  and  the  great  capital. 
Other  lines  soon  followed.  The  Dardanelles  were 
the  gates  of  Constantinople.  While  northerly  winds 
prevailed  no  sailing  vessel  could  pass  through,  and 
often  commerce  had  to  wait  weeks  for  a  wind. 
Steam  made  Constantinople  a  commercial  city  and 
brought  the  civilization,  the  arts,  and  the  vices  of 
the  West  and  the  East  together  in  the  Ottoman 
capital.  Our  passage  Saturday  afternoon  up  the 
Gulf  of  Smyrna  was  pleasant.  We  passed  in  the 
evening  close  to  Lesbos,  now  Mytelene,  but  could 
only  see  its  bold  shores.  Sunday  it  rained  all  day 
long.  We  only  knew  when  we  passed  Tenedos  and 
the  shores  made  immortal  by  the  Iliad.  We  anch- 
ored at  night  in  the  Golden  Horn,  too  late  to  land, 
and  our  rain  changed  to  snow. 


l80  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

In  the  morning  I  rose  early  to  see  all  the  roofs 
covered  with  snow,  the  air  chilly  and  uncomfortable. 
No  breakfast  before  landing,  and  no  landing  till  the 
health  officers  had  made  a  diligent  scrutiny  as  to 
our  having  had  any  possible  contact  with  anything 
from  Egypt,  where  the  plague  was  then  slaying  its 
thousands.  And  this  then  is  Constantinople  !  Cold, 
discomfort,  hunger,  and  doubt  could  only  partially 
veil  the  glories  of  the  scene.  We  bless  God  that 
we  are  here. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

LANDING    AT     CONSTANTINOPLE     AND     COMMENCEMENT 
OF    MISSIONARY    WORK. 

OO  soon  as  "pratique"  was  given  —  leave  to  land 
^^  —  the  steamer  was  assailed  by  hundreds  of 
caiques,  every  man  vociferating  for  a  passenger.  We 
saw  amid  the  insane,  vociferating  multitude  a  gentle- 
man standing  erect  in  a  Maltese  boat  nearly  as  broad 
as  long,  and  making  towards  us.  I  said  to  wife  : 
"That  is  Mr.  Homes!"  I  knew  him  from  the 
portrait  we  saw  in  his  father's  house  in  Boston.  Mr. 
Homes,  of  the  firm  Homes  &  Homer,  hardware 
merchants,  was  known  to  all  missionaries  of  the 
American  Board.  Every  missionary  and  his  wife 
must  spend  one  night  at  his  house  before  sailing, 
and  he  gave  a  razor  to  the  man,  and  an  elegant  pair 
of  shears  to  the  lady.  We  were  right  glad  to  greet 
him.  He  apologized  for  his  boat  by  saying  that 
"  Dr.  Goodell  enjoined  him  to  take  no  other,  lest  we 
should  be  upset." 

The  snow  was  melting,  the  eaves  were  pouring 
upon  our  heads,  the  streets  were  flowing  with  slush 
and  filled  with  crowds  of  strangely  dressed  people ; 

181 


1 82  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

but,  with  Mr.  Homes  to  guide  us  and  clear  the  way, 
we  reached  father  Goodell's,  and  we  had  a  reception 
as  warm  and  cordial  as  though  we  were  absent 
children  just  arrived  at  home.  They  had  been  wait- 
ing for  us  more  than  a  year.  A  room  with  a  lovely 
outlook  was  ready  for  us.  In  the  evening  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Schauffler  came  in.  We  had  a  praise  meeting 
and  a  social  meeting,  and  the  next  day  we  settled 
down  to  study  with  Avedis  Der  Sahakian  as  teacher. 

Threats  and  plots  of  persecution  were  rife,  but  all 
things  were  otherwise  undisturbed.  The  govern- 
ment was  making  great  efforts  to  reduce  Mehmet 
Aali  of  Egypt  to  submission,  but  his  victorious  son 
Ibrahim  was  subduing  Syria. 

Two  or  three  days  of  bad  weather  kept  us  all  from 
an  afternoon  airing.  The  Goodells,  old  and  young, 
were  longing  for  a  game  of  blindman's  buff  before 
dinner,  which  was  at  six  p.m.,  but  they  were  afraid  it 
would  shock  our  feelings  of  propriety.  As  for  us, 
we  were  longing  for  anything  like  indoor  gymnastics. 
Dr.  Goodell  incidentally  remarked  upon  the  necessity 
of  keeping  our  health  during  this  rainy  weather. 
We  might  perhaps  for  the  children's  sake  even  be 
reduced  to  blindman's  buff,  if  we  could  find  nothing 
else. 

''That  would  be  splendid,"  I  replied.  "I  go  for 
blindman's  buff  such  a  day  as  this." 


Rkv.  William  Goodell,  u.d. 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE.  183 

He  fairly  shouted  for  joy.  "Children,  down  to 
the  lower  hall  ;   the  Hamlins  will  play  buff  with  us!  " 

We  were  a  merry  party  and  enjoyed  the  game 
much.     When  dinner  came  we  were  in  a  glow. 

One  after  another  members  of  the  "  Avederanagan 
Miapanootiune  "  (the  Evangelical  Union)  called  to  see 
and  welcome  us.  The  Union,  I  believe,  had  then 
twenty-two  members.  It  was  profoundly  secret,  for 
if  known,  every  member  would  go  to  prison  or  exile 
instanter.  In  point  of  fact  it  was  an  active  cJiiuxh. 
It  had  regular  meetings.  It  had  a  secretary.  The 
members  in  their  individual  capacity  held  corre- 
spondence with  enlightened  men,  and  with  perhaps 
priests  and  vartabeds  throughout  the  empire.  The 
letters  which  they  received  were  brought,  read  at 
their  meetings  and  deposited  with  the  secretary. 
The  leader  of  these  "Unionists"  was  Hohannes  Der 
Sahakian,  brother  of  our  teacher.  He  could  speak 
English,  although  with  some  difficulty.  We  were 
profoundly  interested  in  what  he  told  us  of  the  signs 
of  waking  up  in  the  sleepy  old  church  all  over  the 
empire. 

The  celebrated  Dr.  Robinson  had  just  been  here, 
and  he  went  home  and  told  the  secretaries  at  the 
rooms  that  the  missionaries  in  Constantinople  were 
doing  nothing  worth  all  the  expense !  It  takes  a 
great  man  to  be  a  great  fool ! 


184  ^^^  ^^P^  '-i^D    TIMES. 

We  had  been  quietly  studying  but  a  few  days, 
when  to  our  surprise  our  teacher,  Avedis,  burst  into 
our  room  out  of  breath,  his  face  aflame  and  dripping 
with  perspiration,  and  throwing  a  heavy  bundle  upon 
the  floor  exclaimed  :  "  This  is  of  God  !  Mr.  Hamlin." 

As  soon  as  he  recovered  breath,  he  told  us  that  his 
brother  was  in  prison  at  the  patriarchate  and  would 
be  sent  into  exile,  but  most  providentially  he  had  a 
chance  to  send  by  a  faithful  messenger  this  word : 
*'Take  all  my  papers  quickly  to  Mr.  Hamlin.  Our 
house  will  be  searched." 

In  our  grief  and  consternation  I  put  all  the  let- 
ters, journals,  and  records  into  this  bag,  and  while  I 
was  putting  some  indifferent  papers  into  his  desk, 
behold  the  "  Jamgoch  "  were  at  the  door  !  I  seized 
this  bag  and  ran  down  through  our  long,  narrow 
garden  which  extends  to  a  narrow  lane.  I  threw  the 
bag  over,  climbed  over  myself  and  went  straight  to 
the  boat  wharf,  and  jumping  into  a  Turkish  boat 
rowed  straight  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  nearest  to 
Dr.  Goodell's  back  gate.  While  I  was  climbing 
up  this  steep  hill  I  saw  the  Jamgoch  in  a  boat 
pursuing  me. 

**  Now  put  them  where  they  can't  be  found,  Mr. 
Hamlin,"  cried  the  teacher.  "  In  five  minutes  they 
will  be  here.  If  they  get  all  these  papers  and  letters, 
five  hundred  men  will  be  sent  into  exile,  and  you  will 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE.  185 

all  be  sent  out  of  the  country.  You  know  they  talk 
of  that  already." 

He  was  so  excited  that  he  was  out  of  his  wits,  till 
Mr.  Goodell  fastened  the  back  gate  and  would  allow 
nobody  to  enter  the  front  gate  without  knowing  his 
business.  The  Jamgoch  did  not  appear,  and  prob- 
ably the  teacher  was  deceived  by  his  excited  imagi- 
nation. 

I  went  into  a  brick  vault  beneath  the  garden,  de- 
signed for  storing  valuables  in  case  of  fire.  It  would 
have  been  almost  useless,  for  it  was  half  full  of  all 
ruined  or  useless  or  broken  articles  of  every  kind. 
Spiders  and  spiderwebs  surpassed  anything  I  had 
ever  seen.  I  burrowed  into  that  mass,  found  an 
empty  cask  into  which  I  thrust  the  bag,  and  then 
filled  in  broken  crockery  and  rusty  tins  till  I  knew 
neither  rat  nor  mouse  would  penetrate  it.  Then 
restoring  a  covering  of  chaos,  I  bade  the  frightened 
spiders  come  back  to  their  domains.  The  sack  re- 
mained there  almost  two  years,  until  the  storm  blew 
over. 

We  were  now  without  a  teacher,  and  no  Arme- 
nians dared  to  come  to  our  houses.  We  immediately 
took  modern  Greek  and  French.  The  latter  we 
could  both  read  easily.  My  wife  found  her  old 
French  teacher  in  Dr.  Schauffler.  We  had  both 
studied  ancient  Greek.     Now  while  we  found  these 


J  86  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

studies  delightful,  we  also  found  that  speaking  a 
language  is  very  different  from  reading  or  translating 
it  off  the  printed  page.  As  we  could  not  pursue  the 
Armenian,  it  was  the  best  use  we  could  make  of  our 
time,  and  we  found  the  Greek  and  French  not  only 
useful  all  our  lives,  but  often  absolutely  necessary. 
Keep  to  work;  if  cut  off  from  one  thing,  take  the 
next. 

Dr.  Goodell  had  a  very  excellent  helper  in  his 
Bible  translation  —  a  Greek  gentleman,  Mr.  Panyotes. 
He  came  to  me  one  day  in  some  excitement,  and 
said :  "  I  have  found  a  good  teacher  for  you  whom  the 
Patriarch  cannot  touch.  He  is  a  Russian  Armenian, 
Mesrobe  by  name,  and  I  like  him  very  much.  I  have 
met  no  such  Armenian  before.  He  is  not  only  en- 
lightened, but  he  is  a  good  Christian  man." 

Of  course  we  had  no  hesitation  in  taking  him  right 
into  our  service.  He  was  a  very  modest  man,  and 
did  not  unfold  himself  at  once,  but  every  day  we  felt 
more  and  more  that  we  had  in  him  a  prize  of  great 
value.  The  mystery  of  his  character  and  attain- 
ments was  explained  when  we  found  that  he  had 
studied  six  years  in  Bishops  College,  Calcutta,  and 
had  lived  in  some  of  the  best  English  families  there. 
He  was  a  patriot  like  Paul  "for  his  brethren  his  kins- 
men according  to  the  flesh,"  and  his  joy  was  great 
when   he  found   I   was  devoted    to    education.     He 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE.  igT 

thought  he  saw  the  future  he  had  long  desired  and 
prayed  for.  He  had  come  all  the  way  from  Calcutta 
hoping  to  do  something  for  his  people,  and  for  that 
object  a  rich  uncle  had  sent  him  from  Russia  to  Cal- 
cutta. He  was  a  linguist,  a  poet,  a  student  of  his- 
tory, and  a  student  of  the  Bible.  His  name  was 
Mesrobe  Taliatine. 

One  day  he  went  out  to  walk  about  noon,  intending 
to  be  in  at  one  o'clock  to  lunch.  We  never  saw  him 
again.  Some  two  or  three  hours  afterwards,  a  Per- 
sian Armenian,^  who  had  occasionally  called  upon 
him,  came  bringing  a  hastily  written  note  very  nearly 
as  follows  :  — 

Dear,  dear  Mr.  Hatnlin,  —  My  soul  is  exceedingly  sorrowful. 
I  am  on  board  the  Turkish  steamer  for  Trebizond.  I  am  des- 
tined to  Siberia,  by  order  of  the  Russian  ambassador.  Give  the 
bearer  my  clothes,  burn  my  manuscripts.  I  give  my  books  to 
the  mission  library.  Let  all  the  brethren  and  sisters  pray  for  me, 
for  I  am  very  sorrowful.  Mesrobe  Taliatine. 

Astonishment,  indignation,  and  distress  seized  us. 
Dr.  Schauffler  hastened  to  the  Russian  palace  to  pro- 
test to  the  Ambassador  Boutineff  that  we  knew 
Mesrobe  to  be  a  good  man,  and  that  all  the  American 
missionaries  were  ready  to  go  bail  for  him. 

Boutineff  haughtily  replied  :  *'  I  might  as  well  tell 
you  now,  Mr.  Schauffler,  that  the  Emperor  of  Russia,. 

^A  professed  friend,  but  a  spy  ami  a  Russian  detective. 


1 88  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

who  is  my  master,  will  never  allow  Protestantism  to 
set  its  foot  in  Turkey." 

Dr.  Schauffler  saw  the  whole  thing  at  a  glance, 
and,  bowing  low  to  the  ambassador,  with  equal  dignity 
replied:  "Your  Excellency,  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
who  is  my  Master,  will  never  ask  the  Emperor  of 
all  the  Russias  where  it  may  set  its  foot ; "  and  so 
retired. 

A  fact  was  thus  suddenly  revealed  to  us  which  we 
were  slow  to  learn  —  Russia's  hostility  to  our  mis- 
sions. I  might  be  excused  for  learning  it  in  these 
circumstances,  but  I  was  often  laughed  at  as  a  crank 
on  Russia.     Time  has  grandly  vindicated  me. 

Mr.  Mesrobe  Taliatine  made  his  escape  in  a  most 
pro\ddential  and  interesting  manner,  as  is  narrated  in 
Among  the  Turks,  pp.  32-36.  He  became  the  editor 
of  an  evangelical  newspaper  in  Armenian,  published 
in  Singapore,  having  reached  Calcutta  instead  of 
Siberia.  Russia's  measures  have  often  been  a  boom- 
erang to  smite  her  in  the  face. 

We  now  returned  again  to  Greek  and  French,  and 
such  stolen  intercourse  with  Armenian  as  could  be 
secured.  A  few  young  men  came  to  us  secretly,  both 
to  learn  English  and  help  us  in  Armenian.  They 
were  also  interested  in  Bible  truth  as  having  author- 
ity over  the  church  and  over  all  consciences. 

During  all  the  months  of  May  and  June,  1839,  ^^ 


Rk\'.   Wm.  (i.  SCHAIFFLEK,  l).l>,  LL.D. 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE.  189 

lion-hearted  Sultan  Mahmoud  was  dying,  but  still  he 
was  urging  with  his  last  breath  the  preparations  of 
war  for  subduing  his  rebellious  subject  Mahmed  Aali 
of  Egypt. 

We  were  busily  occupied  in  getting  to  housekeep- 
ing. A  home  of  our  own  !  The  first  experience  of 
home  remains  a  unique  memory  for  life.  We  found 
the  dry-goods  stores  very  unsatisfactory.  Carpets 
and  calicoes  had  flaring  colors  and  big  figures.  An 
English  lady  (Mrs.  Redhouse)  who  knew  the  lan- 
guages and  could  talk  Turkish,  Greek,  and  French, 
was  going  to  housekeeping  at  the  same  time.  She 
found  at  Ruboli's  store  a  beautiful  carpet  pattern, 
and  immediately  informed  us.  Wife  also  found  after 
much  search  some  calico  for  sofa  covering  and  cur- 
tains harmonizing  with  the  carpet.  Mr.  Ruboli  sent 
a  man  to  make  and  fit  the  carpet  and  put  it  down. 
He  worked  with  dispatch  and  precision,  and  we 
found  it  was  his  trade,  his  only  trade.  When  it  was 
completed  with  perfect  neatness  he  charged  me 
thirty  piastres  (^1.25),  and  I  paid  him  willingly,  but 
I  gave  him  no  backshish.  I  found  afterwards  that  I 
should  have  given  him  fifteen  piastres,  and  then  five 
piastres  as  a  backshish,  and  he  would  have  been  pro- 
foundly grateful.  I  had  begun  to  learn  the  ways  of 
the  East. 

•I  had  another  experience,  more  funny  and   more 


190 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


profitable.  I  priced  an  article  of  one  hundred  pias- 
tres. I  said,  "No;  I  will  give  you  seventy."  The 
trader  rejected  it  with  undisguised  scorn  and  put  the 
article  back.  I  turned  away  and  heard  his  partner 
demand,  "  How  much  did  he  offer  V  *'  Only  forty 
piastres."  "  Never  mind  ;  call  him  back  ;  better  sell 
for  that  than  not  at  all,"  So  he  called  me  back,  and 
I  coolly  paid  him  forty  piastres  for  the  article  for 
which  I  had  offered  him  seventy.  We  found  shop- 
ping most  unpleasant  because  the  price  asked  was  no 
indication  of  its  real  market  value. 

When  at  length  we  entered  our  house  it  was  to  us  a 
palace.  It  needed  no  costly  fittings  to  make  it  so.  It 
was  our  own  happy  home.  We  had  founded  a  king- 
dom, and  each  one  acknowledged  a  king  and  a  queen. 

I  insert  here  the  story  of  Marcus  Brown,  because 
its  beginning  belongs  here :  — 

It  was  a  hot  July  day  when,  accidentally  passing 
the  great  Turkish  customhouse  in  Galata,  Constanti- 
nople, I  found  a  crowd  obstructing  the  street.  Pene- 
trating it,  I  found  a  poor  mortal  against  the  wall, 
apparently  dying  in  the  pains  of  cholera.  His  con- 
dition was  indescribably  revolting.     I  said  :  "Do  you 

speak  English.?"  "Yes;  your  eyes!"  he  replied, 

turning  upon  me  a  look  of  anguish,  or  fierce  hatred, 
I  hardly  knew  which.     He  knew  the  inhuman  crowd 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE. 


UJL 


was  waiting  to  see  him  die.  "  Are  you  American  or 
English?"  ''American,"  with  the  same  or  far  worse 
profanity. 

I  tried  to  get  a  couple  of  porters  {Jiainals),  usually 
ready  for  any  such  service,  to  take  him  and  his  sack 
of  clothes  to  a  sailor's  boarding  house  near  by.  No 
one  would  touch  him.  I  offered  large  pay  in  vain, 
when  two  noble  colored  sailors,  Jamaica  negroes, 
offered  to  take  him  without  pay.  The  boarding 
house  rejected  us.  We  went  to  the  English  marine 
hospital,  to  be  rejected  in  like  manner.  The  two 
Jamaicans  poured  out  the  most  awful  malediction 
upon  the  English  consul,  to  whom  I  appealed  in  vain, 
and  the  sick  man  joined  them,  until  I  ordered  them  to 
stop,  in  quick,  sharp  tones  they  were  accustomed  to 
hear  on  deck,  and  not  an  oath  was  uttered  after  that. 

I  then  had  him  carried  to  the  boathouse  or  Nicola, 
a  good,  kind  Italian  boatman,  who  had  nursed  Cap- 
tain Holt,  of  Andover,  through  a  long  and  dangerous 
illness.  He  assented  to  my  leaving  him  in  his  bunk 
until  I  could  run  and  call  our  doctor,  Stamatiades 
The  common  sailors  are  generous  fellows,  faithful  to 
each  other  unto  death. 

I  could  not  find  our  doctor,  but  in  the  search  I 
most  providentially  met  with  Dr.  Riach,  a  Scotch 
physician  of  experience  in  India  and  Persia.  I  seized 
upon  him  and  took  him  to  the  boathouse. 


192  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

"  Small  chance  for  this  poor  fellow,"  said  Dr.  Riach ; 
**  but  administer  this  prescription  ;  it  is  all  I  would 
do  for  him  to-night." 

The  druggist  first  refused  to  make  up  the  prescrip- 
tion, because  "  it  would  kill  any  man."  But  1  com- 
pelled him  to  make  it  up  quickly,  and  when  I  had 
administered  it  I  found  Dr.  Stamatiades,  who  took 
the  case  in  hand  with  great  kindness  and  attention. 

One  evening  he  sent  me  word  to  come  and  bury 
Brown  in  the  morning ;  he  would  not  live  through 
the  night,  and  the  heat  made  immediate  burial  a 
necessity.  I  went,  but  the  case  had  turned  toward 
life,  and  Brown  slowly  recovered. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Hebard  was  staying  with  us,  an 
invalid  rnissionary  from  Beirut.  He  visited  Brown 
daily,  or,  if  not  able  to,  then  Dr.  Goodell  or  myself 
took  his  place.  Brown  seemed  to  be  truly  penitent 
for  his  sinful  and  abandoned  life.  He  was  about 
twenty-five,  had  learned  to  read  in  his  boyhood,  but 
had  nearly  lost  all  his  learning  in  his  vile,  degraded 
life.  Brother  Hebard  helped  him  recover  what  he 
had  lost,  and  in  two  or  three  weeks  he  could  read 
a  chapter  in  the  New  Testament  with  some  few 
hitches. 

When  at  length,  after  waiting  for  weeks,  the 
consul  found  a  passage  for  him  home,  he  bade  me 
good-by   with    a   sailor's    heart,    and    said,  **  I    have 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE, 


193 


hitherto  done  all  the  evil  I  could  in  life,  and 
now  I  am  going  to  try  to  do  good."  So  Marcus 
Brown  departed  and  I  did  not  hope  to  hear  from 
him  again. 

About  a  year  after,  Mr.  Calhoun,  a  returned  mis- 
sionary, wrote  me  :  "Your  sailor  holds  out  a  true 
Christian.  I  was  in  Father  Taylor's  prayer  meeting, 
and  when  opportunity  for  prayer  was  given  a  sailor 
burst  out  with,  '  O  God,  I  thank  thee  for  the 
American  missionaries.  When  I  was  dying,  a  poor 
blasphemous  dog,  in  a  street  of  Constantinople, 
thou  didst  send  thy  servants  Hamlin,  Hebard,  and 
Goodell,  to  save  me,  soul  and  body ; '  and  so  on 
through  a  unique  and  earnest  prayer  which  called 
forth  hearty  amens." 

Mr.  Calhoun  failed  to  find  him  in  the  crowd  after 
meeting,  and  perhaps  another  year  passed  when  I 
had  a  very  characteristic  letter  from  Brown,  not 
always  correctly  spelled,  but  full  of  life  and  earnest- 
ness. It  began,  '*  Dear,  dear  Mr.  Hamlin  :  Thank 
God  I  still  survive  the  ded."  He  told  of  his  ship- 
wreck when  he  "found  his  feet  standing  on  the  rock 
Christ  Jesus,"  "  and  now  I  am  blowin'  the  gospel 
trumpet  on  the  Erie  Canal."  I  went  over  and  read 
the  letter  to  Father  Goodell.  He  clapped  his  hands 
and  said,  "  Let  me  begin  the  reply  to  that  letter," 
and  taking  a  sheet  of  paper  he  wrote  :  — 


94 


MV  LIFE  AND   TIMES. 


Dear  Mr.  Brown,  —  Blow  away,  brother,  blow.  Yours,  in 
"blowin'"  the  same  gospel  trumpet, 

WILLIAM  GOODELL. 

I  know  not  if  he  ever  received  the  letter.  Twenty- 
eight  years  passed  away  from  that  contest  with  death 
on  that  hot  July  day,  and  in  all  the  excitements, 
anxieties,  and  cares  of  missionary  life,  the  rescued 
sailor  was  forgotten:  In  1867  I  was  dining  at  the 
Hotel  Newton,  Rue  de  St.  Augustine,  Paris,  at  the 
time  of  the  great  Exposition,  with  William  and 
Arthur  Whitin,  of  Whitinsville,  Mass.  Near  the 
close  of  the  dinner,  at  which  were  seated  men  and 
women  of  different  nations  and  languages,  the  gentle- 
man sitting  at  my  right  turned  to  me  and  said :  — 

"  I  see  you  are  from  Constantinople,  sir.  May  I 
ask  if  while  there  you  chanced  to  meet  with  one 
Cyrus  Hamlin  ?  " 

"  I  am  the  person  you  ask  for,  sir." 

After  expressing  his  surprise  and  pleasure,  he  said: 
"  I  am  just  from  Honolulu,  and  I  have  long  wished 
I  could  ask  you  about  a  sailor,  Brown,  who  has  been 
a  sort  of  sailors'  missionary  in  the  islands,  and  has 
done  a  great  deal  of  good  among  the  seamen  of  all 
nations.  He  has  told  me  how  he  was  dying,  a  'blas- 
phemous dog '  (his  own  language),  in  Constantinople, 
and  how  you  rescued  him,  and  so  on  and  on.  Now 
I  want  to  know  how  much  of  this  is  a  sailor's  yarn, 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE. 


195 


or  is  it  all  true  ?  for  he  seems  to  be  a  man  of  great 
simplicity  and  sincerity." 

"  Why,  the  sailor  Brown  !  "  I  replied.  '*  I  had  for- 
gotten him.  It  is  all  true,  and  I  bless  God  that  I 
hear  from  him  again." 

The  reader  will  see  in  this  brief  story  that  we  can 
rarely  know  what  good  may  result  from  a  simple  act 
of  kindness  or  humanity.  Once  in  a  while  the  good 
done  may  become  known,  but  not  often.  Constanti- 
nople, Boston,  Erie  Canal,  Honolulu,  and  Paris,  with 
twenty-eight  years  between  do  not  often  come  to- 
gether to  reveal  what  is  done.  But  no  good  deed 
is  lost.  "  God  will  multiply  your  seed  sown,  and 
increase  your  fruits  of  righteousness." 

But  skies  were  lowering.  Reports  were  rife  that 
the  missionaries  were  all  to  be  driven  out  of  the  em- 
pire. The  hostility  of  Catholics,  Armenians,  Greeks 
was  expressed  in  every  possible  way.  We  had  some 
real  friends  among  them  who  said  to  us :  '*  Lie  low, 
don't  move,  don't  appear  much  abroad,  keep  out  of 
sight,  and  the  storm  will  blow  over."  We  knew  our 
position  to  be  critical.  Even  Dr.  Goodell's  wonted 
cheerfulness  was  clouded  with  anxiety.  A  distin- 
guished banker  had  assured  him  that  the  Patriarch 
had  been  promised  the  expulsion  of  all  the  mission- 
aries.    Of  course  Boutineff's  hand  was  in  it. 


196  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

We  gave  ourselves  unto  prayer,  morning,  noon,  and 
night.  Nothing  brings  us  to  "  Our  Father  who  art 
in  heaven,"  Hke  the  failures  of  earthly  supports  and 
the  gathering  forces  of  irresistible  foes. 

I  was  in  Dr.  Goodell's  study  with  Schauffler  when 
one  of  the  children  came  and  said :  *'  Mr.  J.  P. 
Brown  wants  to  see  you."  *'  Let  him  come  right  in," 
said  Dr.  Goodell.  Mr.  Brown's  salutation  alarmed 
Dr.  Goodell,  and  he  said :  **  What  is  the  matter, 
Mr.  Brown  .? "  Whereupon  he  took  out  Commodore 
Porter's  reply  to  a  dispatch  from  the  Sublime  Porte 
that  the  government  could  no  longer  be  answerable 
for  the  safety  of  the  American  missionaries,  and 
they  must  at  once  retire  from  the  country.  The 
astounding  reply  of  the  commodore  was  that  he 
had  no  official  duties  in  regard  to  mxissionaries, 
but  he  would  inform  the  gentlemen  concerned,  whO' 
would  act  for  themselves. 

Mr.  Brown  said  it  was  his  official  duty  to  go 
straight  to  the  Sublime  Porte,  but  his  mother  (the 
commodore's  sister)  made  him  promise  to  let  Dr. 
Goodell  see  the  dispatch. 

Here  was  the  blow  that  had  been  threatened. 
Messrs.  Goodell  and  Schauffler  immediately  took 
horses  for  a  ride  of  ten  or  twelve  miles  to  San 
Stefano  to  remonstrate.  The  commodore  was  a 
warm  friend  to  all  the  missionaries,  and  especially  to 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE.  1 97 

Goodell  and  Schauffler,  but  all  the  change  he  would 
make  was  that  he  must  communicate  with  his  gov- 
ernment, and  he  would  expect  the  usual  protection 
until  he  should  hear  from  Washington.  He  was  very 
positive  and  firm  in  any  position  he  took,  and  he  was 
sure  our  government  would  decide  that,  having  only 
a  commercial  treaty  with  the  Porte,  it  could  not  claim 
any  protection  for  the  missionaries.  He  laughed  at 
the  confidence  of  Drs.  Goodell  and  Schauffler  to  the 
contrary.  We  immediately  prepared  our  appeal  to  our 
government  on  the  basis  of  the  most  favored  nation 
clause  in  the  treaty  and  claimed  the  same  rights 
which  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  enjoyed. 

In  the  meantime  the  missionaries  throughout  the 
land  gave  themselves  unto  prayer.  They  had  come 
into  that  condition  by  the  command  of  Him  who  had 
said  :  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in 
earth.     Go  ye  therefore,"  etc. 

Now  our  position  had  become  defined  we  felt 
more  at  ease.  We  resolved  to  go  only  when 
arrested  by  officers  of  government  and  compelled 
to  go,  and  we  should  then  claim  time  for  prepara- 
tion. We  could  then  have  no  protection  from 
the  English  embassy,  for  Lord  Ponsonby,  unlike 
his  successor  Sir  Stratford  Canning,  although  a 
Protestant,  had  a  supercilious  contempt  for  all 
missionaries.     When  we  appealed  to  him  in  behalf 


198  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

of  some  exiled  Armenians,  he  replied  to  us  in  a 
style  which  no  gentleman  and  no  true  diplomat 
would  ever  use. 

While  we  were  in  this  waiting  mood,  encouraging 
ourselves  in  the  Lord,  events  were  about  to  occur 
which  alarmed  all  Europe.  Hearing  very  contradic- 
tory accounts  of  the  health  of  the  sultan,  I  resolved 
to  go  and  see  him  — that  is,  to  go  and  see  him  enter 
the  mosque  at  Friday  prayers.  It  was  to  be  at  a 
mosque  at  the  water's  side  on  the  Asiatic  shore.  I 
gained  a  position  close  to  the  stairs  directly  behind 
the  last  soldier  of  the  line  drawn  up  to  the  stairs. 
The  approach  of  the  magnificent  boats  was  a  pageant 
that  only  the  Bosphorus  offers  to  the  eye.  Two 
pashas  were  sitting  by  his  side,  and  they  lifted  him  as 
he  rose  and  sustained  him  up  the  steps.  The  sweat 
stood  in  drops  on  his  face.  His  eagle  eye  seemed  to 
soar  above  the  approach  of  death,  but  it  was  plain 
to  every  beholder  that  this  was  the  last  pageant  of 
prayer  for  the  dying  caliph,  and  so  it  proved. 

He  had  with  great  difficulty  raised  an  army  to 
meet  the  victorious  rebel  Ibrahim  Pasha  in  Mesopo- 
tamia. His  fleet  had  been  restored  since  the  destruc- 
tion at  Navarino,  and  a  few  days  before  his  death  it 
had  left  the  Bosphorus  with  such  thunders  of  artil- 
lery as  I  had  never  heard.  At  the  time  I  was  pass- 
ing very  uncomfortably  near  the  line  of  battle  ships 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE. 


199 


in  a  caique,  but  was  entranced  by  the  power  and 
grandeur  of  the  spectacle.  The  sultan  had  been  laid 
away  in  the  tomb  but  a  few  days,  when  the  astound- 
ing news  arrived  that  his  army  had  been  beaten  and 
dispersed  at  Nedjib,  and  his  entire  fleet  had  been  be- 
trayed into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  world  at 
the  capital  looked  for  the  Russians  daily,  but  Russia 
was  caught  napping ;  she  was  not  ready.  The  young 
Abdul  Medj id  ascended  the  throne  peaceably;  Eng- 
land took  the  lead  in  settling  the  question.^ 

The  personnel  of  the  government  was  so  com- 
pletely changed  and  the  political  condition  so  absorb- 
ing, that  we  felt  we  were  safe  in  our  obscurity  and 
could  go  on  with  our  work  unnoticed.  Where  were 
our  persecutors  }  The  breath  of  the  Lord  had  swept 
them  away.  Our  anxiety  for  the  response  from 
Washington  was  alleviated  greatly.  Just  for  the 
present  it  had  lost  its  interest.  Daniel  Webster  was 
then,  I  believe.  Secretary  of  State  ;  the  answer  at  all 
events  was  Websterian  and  surprised  Commodore ' 
Porter  as  much  as  it  delighted  us. 

Our  early  housekeeping  had  shadows  to  tone  down 
its  light  and  joy.     The  loss  of  our  teacher  Mesrobe 
was  one,  although  the  joy  at  his  escape  was  such  a  * 
compensation   that   we   could    only   give   thanks    at 
every  remembrance  of  him.     Our  very  nice  servant 

^  See  Among  the  Turks,  p.  39. 


200  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

girl  Maria,  to  whom  my  dear  wife  had  become  per- 
sonally attached,  died  of  confluent  smallpox.  We 
had  to  vacate  the  house  for  a  week  to  have  it  thor- 
oughly disinfected.  Dr.  Goodell  found  us  a  place 
with  an  Italian  woman  who  was  very  kind  to  us.  It 
was  fun  to  talk  with  her,  as  neither  knew  the  other's 
language.  But  she  knew  a  little  French  and  a  little 
Greek,  and  was  jubilant  when  she  got  the  idea. 

Our  house  had  been  most  thoroughly  disinfected 
with  chlorine  gas,  and  when  we  returned  we  found 
every  iron  and  steel  article  covered  with  a  beautiful 
coat  of  oxide  of  iron.  Table  knives  wrapped  up  in 
oiled  paper  and  then  in  linen  and  packed  close  and 
hard  in  a  box  were  covered  with  a  rust  so  fine  that 
it  seemed  a  pity  to  disturb  it.  The  polish  was 
easily  restored,  but  the  beautiful  Maria  could  no 
longer  use  them.  Henrietta  had  become  quite  able 
to  communicate  with  her  in  Greek,  and  felt  her  loss 
daily,  although  she  obtained  another  who  was  quite 
her  equal. 

Another  shadow  was  the  expectation  of  the 
plague.  Dr.  Schauffler  left  me  a  bottle  of  plague 
matter  reduced  homeopathically  to  a  high  potenti- 
ality, and  he  gave  me  many  useful  suggestions  as  to 
how  to  avoid  the  contagion.  I  threw  the  bottle  into 
the  Bosphorus,  for  I  had  no  faith  in  homeopathy. 
Quarantine  has  been  a  complete  protection  of  the 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE.  20I 

capital  against  the  destroyer.  For  the  first  few  years 
of  our  residence,  an  occasional  vessel  from  Egypt 
would  come  in  with  cases  on  board,  but  would  be 
immediately  quarantined  and  carefully  guarded. 

Our  firstborn,  Henrietta  Ann  Loraine,  came  on  to 
the  stage  of  action  December  5,  1839. 

The  monthly  nurse  was  Mrs.  Elkins,  the  wife  of  an 
English  engineer.  She  was  a  good  Wesleyan  woman, 
who  had  been  in  the  country  two  years.  Having  no 
children  of  her  own,  and  her  husband  being  most  of 
the  time  away,  she  was  glad  of  such  an  occupation. 
She  would  not  attend  the  English  chapel,  and  did 
not  come  to  the  American  chapel  because  "they 
preached  American,  and  she  would  not  understand 
a  word."  Great  was  her  surprise  to  find  how  well  we 
spoke  the  English  language.  She  was  a  very  nice 
woman,  but  her  insular  and  English  notions  afforded 
us  a  great  deal  of  amusement.  It  is  somewhat 
problematical  whether  she  was  ever  fully  convinced 
that  we,  in  common  with  all  Americans,  were  not  of 
the  aboriginal  class.  Henrietta  second  was  a  great 
laugher  from  her  babyhood,  and  she  still  laughs  some^ 
on  occasion  ;  but  she  is  sobering  down,  and  by  the 
time  she  is  threescore  and  ten  will  be  a  fine  dignified 
old  lady.  Dr.  Stamatiades  said  she  was  born  the 
most  perfect  child  he  ever  saw  in  his  life,  and  we 
believed  him  implicitly. 


202  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

When  but  a  few  days  old  —  memory  is  too  treach- 
erous to  be  confident  of  the  exact  number  —  I  placed 
the  face  of  the  child  within  a  few  inches  of  a  bou- 
quet of  very  bright  little  flowers  pictured  on  the 
sofa  cushion.  She  smiled  at  once.  Speaking  of  it 
to  Mrs.  Goodell  at  her  house,  she  thought  it  time 
to  take  me  to  task.  She  said  :  "  Now,  Mr.  Hamlin, 
don't  make  yourself  silly  over  that  child.  It  is  a 
sweet  and  beautiful  child,  and  that  is  enough  ;  but  it 
is  not  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world.  No 
child  at  that  age  ever  smiled  at  anything  !  " 

'"  No,  Mrs.  Goodell ;  she  is  not  one  of  the  seven 
wonders  of  the  world ;  she  is  our  one  and  only  won- 
der ;  but  you  shall  come  over  to  my  house,  and  I  will 
prove  to  you  that  I  have  not  exaggerated  in  the  least.'" 

When  she  came  in  I  repeated  the  experiment,  and 
she  confessed  it  was  true. 

After  this  signal  triumph  I  let  Henrietta  second 
fight  her  own  way  to  favor.  She  was  on  her  feet 
betimes  and  began  to  learn  her  letters  early.  She 
brought  her  book  one  day  to  read  her  A  B  C's  ;. 
but  she  was  flighty,  and  after  other  things,  and  I 
gave  her  her  book  and  said  :  "  Here,  you  little  stupid 
thing,  run  away."  She  went  right  to  her  mother 
and  read  so  well  that  she  praised  her  ;  and  the  child, 
looking  up  very  earnestly  in  her  mother's  face,  said : 
"  I  am  not  a  little  'tupid  t'ing,  am  I  ? " 


Rkv.  Henry  A.  Homks,  i.l.d. 


AT   CONSTANTINOPLE.  203 

I  had  no  thought  that  she  would  attach  any  mean- 
ing to  the  word.  She  knew  and  talked  Greek  better 
than  English.  The  only  precocious  thing  about  her 
was  her  jolly  laughter  and  her  apprehension  of  the 
ludicrous.  Neighbors  used  to  come  in  to  make  her 
laugh  for  the  fun  of  it  till  we  had  to  object. 

One  day  she  took  my  stovepipe  hat  and  used  it 
very  improperly,  and  then  laughed  and  danced  up 
and  down  with  glee,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Have  n't  I 
played  a  huge  joke  on  my  papa?"  You  can't  pun- 
ish a  child  till  you  stop  laughing  yourself. 

Henrietta  second  had  considerable  will,  but  she 
always  caved  in  at  last,  and  on  the  whole  we  consid- 
ered her  quite  a  model  child.  The  rest  came  along 
about  equal  to  her,  only  they  were  not  the  first. 
She  was  very  much  a  child  after  her  dear  mother's 
own  heart. 

I  have  presented  in  these  pages  the  likenesses 
of  the  four  missionaries  residing  at  Constantinople 
in  1839.  They  were  to  be  my  beloved  and  honored 
associates  for  many  laborious,  anxious,  yet  happy 
vears.  They  are  too  well  known  to  the  Christian 
public  to  need  any  remark  here.  Mr.  Homes  was 
designated  to  the  Mohammedans.  He  became  a 
profound  Oriental  scholar.  He  rendered  important 
and  highly  valued  aid  to  other  departments  of  the 
mission  ;  but  there  was   no   access   to   the   mind   of 


204  ^^y  ^IFE  AND    TIMES. 

Islam,  and  after  some  years  he  retired.  He  became 
the  distinguished  and  honored  librarian  of  the  New 
York  state  library  in  Albany. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

BEBEK    SEMINARY. 

TOURING  the  winter  of  1839-40  we  were  much 
-^—^  concerned  about  our  mission  work  and  life. 
Persecution  was  so  severe  and  the  fear  of  exile  or 
anathema  so  great  that  few  Armenians  dared  to  call 
upon  us.  Our  third  teacher,  Melkon,  was  wasting 
away  in  consumption.  I  had  come  to  organize  a 
seminary  or  high  school,  and  if  I  could  only  find 
a  suitable  place,  not  amid  an  Armenian  population  to 
watch  us,  we  might  have  a  few  scholars,  and  be  at 
least  in  the  way  of  gaining  a  colloquial  use  of  the 
language. 

The  station  did  not  believe  we  could  hire  a  house 
without  concealing  our  object,  which  we  would  not 
do,  or  that  we  could  keep  a  single  student  against 
the  power  of  the  Patriarch.  But  Mr.  Hebard  was 
with  us  again,  in  still  failing  health,  and  he  helped  to 
forward  the  plan  with  great  zeal.  "  Fear  thou  not. 
Be  of  good  courage.  They  that  be  for  you  are  more 
than  they  that  be  with  them."  Courage  is  always 
contagious,  and  finally  the  station  authorized  me,  by 
vote,  to  seek  a  suitable  house. 

205 


2o6  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

I  have  no  record  of  how  many  quarters  of  Pera, 
Galata,  St.  Demetri,  Scutari,  Chalcedon,  and  both 
sides  of  the  Bosphorus  I  visited.  "■  Telals  "  a  plenty 
to  find  exactly  the  thing  that  would  suit  us.  Our 
Greek  friends,  Mr.  Panyotes  and  Dr.  Stamatiades, 
helped  me  more  than  all  the  rest.  Generally  if  we 
found  a  place  that  really  suited  us,  the  moment  a 
school  was  mentioned,  or  that  we  should  have  a  few 
boarders  who  would  study  English  and  other  things 
with  us,  the  jig  was  up.  At  length  Dr.  Stamatiades 
came  and  said  he  thought  he  had  heard  of  the  right 
place,  and  off  we  went  to  see  it  in  Scutari  by  the 
sea.  He  pointed  it  out  from  our  caique.  I  said  at 
once:  "There  is  the  place  for  a  college."  This 
building  was  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long, 
two  stories,  in  the  lower  no  windows,  but  square 
holes,  say  one  foot  square.  When  we  entered  we 
were  amazed  at  the  length  and  absence  of  width. 
Nobody  but  a  Turk  would  ever  erect  such  a  building. 
A  Greek  friend  with  us  said  in  expressive  Greek  to 
the  doctor  as  we  looked  back  upon  it  :  "  The  outside 
a  bishop,  the  inside  a  poor  lousy  monk  !  " 

After  long  search,  we  found  a  house  in  Bebek,  that 
had  been  occupied  by  an  EngUshman,  a  Mr.  Perkins, 
who  had  married  a  Greek  lady.  The  father-in-law 
did  not  like  the  match,  and  hired  two  Montenegrins 
to  assassinate  him.     Mr.    Perkins    partially  avoided 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


207 


the  assassin's  vigorous  plunge  meant  for  the  heart, 
but  received  a  dangerous  wound.  On  recovering,  he 
changed  his  residence  to  Smyrna.^  The  affair  cast 
an  evil  omen  upon  the  house,  and  the  owner  was 
ready  to  let  the  house  for  a  school  or  any  other  pur- 
pose whatever.  I  made  the  contract  at  once,  but 
the  owner  would  not  give  possession  till  November! 
I  hired  five  enormous 'rooms  at  a  small  price  for 
three  months  in  the  great  old  Madriarki  palace  in 
Arnaout  Keuy.  This  great  building  has  since  been 
cut  up  into  three  dwellings,  and  a  part  taken  down. 
Some  of  the  neighbors  became  greatly  interested  in 
little  Henrietta,  and  she  had  more  attention  than 
we  liked. 

The  rooms  were  of  such  immense  size  and  height, 
and  opened  into  each  other  through  such  immense 
doors,  and  the  Bosphorus  breezes  were  so  fresh,  that 
we  had  little  occasion  for  outdoor  exercise.  Fixing 
two  wheels  and  a  pole  to  a  box,  I  had  a  nice  carriage 
for  our  little  queen,  and  I  could  run  more  than  one 
hundred  feet  in  a  straight  line  without  turning. 

Brother  Hebard  was  with  us  for  a  few  weeks, 
enjoying  this  huge  old  building  from  which  dancing 

*  The  assassins  were  not  paid,  because  their  work  was  not  done.  A  few  months 
later  one  of  them  appeared  in  Mr.  Perkins'  office  and  told  him  just  how  it  was. 
"Now  you  pay  me  and  your  life  is  henceforth  safe.  If  not,  you  will  have  a  fatal 
blow  the  next  time."  Mr.  Perkins  unlocked  his  safe,  paid  him  ;^2o,  recognizing  the 
man  perfectly  well,  and  after  that  he  felt  safe,  as  indeed  he  was. 


2o8  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

and  revelry  had  forever  departed.  The  beloved  and 
saintly  Mrs.  Powers  (Harriet  Goulding)  was  also  our 
guest  with  her  husband.  Both  of  these  missionaries 
were  of  priceless  worth.  Mr.  Hebard  and  Mrs. 
Powers  were  earnestly  seeking  health,  but  were  to 
find  it  only  by  passing  over  Jordan.  Mr.  Hebard 
died  in  Malta  and  Mrs.  Powers  in  America  after  very 
long  sufferings.     Their  memories  are  blessed. 

Mr.  Hebard  had  great  influence  with  the  station, 
as  I  have  said  above,  in  urging  us  to  take  the  risk  of 
opening  the  seminary,  even  if  the  prospect  of  success 
should  be  a  cloudy  one.  I  was  never  indisposed  to 
take  a  risk,  if  the  thing  were  desirable,  and  the 
chances  amounted  to  some  degree  of  probability.  I 
thought  the  station  too  cautious  and  conservative, 
but  they  had  experienced  the  powers  of  persecution 
to  break  up  schools,  and  I  had  not.  The  time  at 
length  came  when  the  house  in  Bebek  was  delivered 
to  me,  and  the  owner,  already  in  advanced  pulmonary 
consumption,  retired  to  another  house  to  die. 

November  4,  1840,  I  moved  into  the  house,  having 
had  a  few  days  to  get  it  ready.  I  think  two  scholars, 
Avedis  and  Toros,  came  the  same  day  to  the  school- 
room, already  prepared  for  twelve,  the  number  we 
proposed  to  take  the  first  year,  if  we  could  get  them. 
And  so  Bebek  Seminary  began  its  career. 

Avedis  was  a  youth  of  tlioughtful  mind,,  not  ready 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


209 


to  receive  a  thing  as  true  because  he  had  heard  it  or 
read  it,  but  would  turn  it  over  in  his  mind  until 
he  could  become  satisfied.  For  example,  that  God 
created  the  universe  out  of  nothing  was  a  great 
stumbling-block  to  him.  He  believed  matter  was 
eternal,  and  yet  he  could  be  made  to  see  the  absurdity 
of  that.  He  was  for  some  years  a  native  pastor,  too 
much  disposed  to  profitless  speculations.  He  finally 
became  a  business  man.     He  died  in  early  life. 

Toros  was  a  heedless  youth,  good-natured,  of  fair 
capacity,  but  in  the  whole  cast  of  his  character 
wholly  unsuited  to  be  a  missionary  helper  in  any 
department.  He  became  a  dragoman  to  the  great 
English  engineer,  Mr.  John  Hague,  was  employed 
in  large  government  works,  and  thence  he  entered 
the  naval  arsenal  of  construction  as  drasroman-in- 
chief.  He  became  a  successful  man  of  good  station 
and  influence,  always  a  friend  to  education  and  to 
Bebek  Seminary.  He  bestowed  great  care  upon  the 
education  of  his  daughters.  He  also  died  in  middle 
life,  leaving  a  competence  to  his  well-educated  family. 

Our  limited  number  was  soon  full.  It  was  com- 
posed of  youth  of  various  ages  between  fourteen  and 
twenty.  They  were  generally  from  poor  families  or 
were  rejected  from  richer  families  on  account  of 
their  strong  determination  to  obtain  an  education. 
Board  and  instruction  were  free,  but  every  student 


2IO  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

was  required  to  provide  himself  a  bed,  bedding, 
clothing,  books,  and  stationery.  Some  of  them  had 
to  be  helped  in  various  ways  to  meet  even  these  ex- 
penses, or  they  would  have  been  compelled  to  leave. 

I  had  been  in  the  country  a  year  and  nine  months, 
but,  owing  to  the  persecution,  had  been  much  of  the 
time  without  a  teacher  and  cut  off  from  intercourse 
with  the  people.  Now  I  had  come  into  circum- 
stances favorable  to  the  acquisition  of  the  colloquial 
Armenian.  As  I  found  a  great  many  Turkish  words 
mixed  in,  I  resolved  not  to  use  them,  but  so  far  as 
possible  to  speak  a  pure  Armenian.  Bebek  Semi- 
nary had  no  small  influence  in  the  introduction  of 
a  purer  style  of  speaking  and  writing  the  modern 
Armenian.  It  was  then  a  rough  uncultivated  lan- 
guage ;  the  Catholic  Armenians  spurned  it  and  chose 
the  Turkish. 

Our  mission  saw  clearly  that,  as  the  language  of 
the  Armenian  race,  we  must  adopt  it  and  make  the 
best  of  it.  The  idea  of  translating  the  Bible  into 
such  a  language  was  ridiculed.  There  was  a  very 
imperfect  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  it 
was  referred  to  with  contempt.  But  it  was  far 
better  than  scores  of  languages  into  which  the 
Scriptures  have  gone  with  renovating  power.  The 
history  of  missions  proves,  by  many  examples,  that 
no  language  is  so  degraded  that  the  simple  truths  of 


Colonel  Toros. 

(Chief  translator  in  the  Imperial   Naval  Arsenal.     The  first  student  to 

enter  Bebek  Seminary.     See  Appendix.) 


BEBEK  SEMINAR  V.  211 

salvation  cannot  be  expressed  in  it ;  and  when  the 
Bible  and  Bible  teaching  enter,  the  language  takes 
on  new  meaning,  grows  with  spiritual  and  moral 
forces,  until  it  is  capable  of  expressing  all  the  truths 
of  our  salvation.  The  modern  Armenian  is  now 
wholly  transformed ;  it  has  become  a  beautiful  and 
cultivated  language.  The  books  and  translations 
presented  fifty  years  ago  are  considered  obsolete 
unless  they  have  been  carefully  reedited.  The 
Bible  has  gone  through  repeated  revisions  to  keep 
it  up  with  the  growth  of  the  language. 

My  first  year  with  the  seminary  was  no  sinecure. 
I  had  to  be  text-book  to  the  students  in  many  things. 
I  fitted  up  a  little  workshop  in  a  stable,  established 
there  my  turning  lathe,  got  together  what  philosophic 
apparatus  there  was,  and  began  to  add  some  simple 
articles  to  them.  I  could  find  nothing  foreign,  and 
had  to  make  everything  myself.  At  length  I  found 
a  store  in  Khourchoon  Khan  Galata  which  was  a 
treasure  to  me.  It  was  kept,  and  for  aught  I  know 
is  still  kept,  by  a  Catholic  Armenian,  a  Mr.  Barone,  a 
gentleman  of  personal  dignity  and  intelligence.  His 
store  was  known  as  ''the  English  store."  He  kept 
carpenter's  hardware  of  every  kind,  files,  drills,  vises, 
steel  rods  of  all  sizes  and  shapes,  copper  and  brass 
piping,  wire  of  all  kinds,  and  various  tools  for  wood 
and  metals,  etc.     He  was  sometimes  amused  at  the 


2  12  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

things  I  inquired  for,  and  wOuld  say,  "That  article 
has  been  in  my  store  for  ten  years,  and  has  never 
been  inquired  for  till  now." 

The  Moslem  Orientals  attribute  all  mechanical  skill 
and  invention  to  Satan,  which  enables  them  to  glory 
in  their  stupidity.  Mr.  Barone  would  sometimes 
introduce  me  as  the  most  "Satanic  man"  in  the 
empire !     He  meant  simply  the  most  skillful. 

When  at  length  England  broke  down  the  custom- 
house policy  of  innumerable  charges,  by  which  a 
five  per  cent  tariff  was  nominally  adhered  to  and 
a  fifty  per  cent  duty  collected,  English  goods  poured 
in  in  vast  abundance,  the  quality  generally  wretched, 
but  the  prices  low,  and  then  this  store  in  Koorchoon 
Khan  completely  changed  its  character.  It  began 
to  have  cheap  goods,  cheap  and  shabby.  Mr.  Barone 
lamented  it,  but  could  not  help  it,  for  these  cheap 
goods  were  found  in  many  other  stores.  He  still 
kept  some  good  articles  for  customers  who  knew 
the  difference.  But  he  said  the  esJicks  (donkeys) 
generally  know  .nothing  but  the  price. 

I  soon  became  satisfied  that  the  seminary,  in 
a  quiet  village  of  mixed  population  with  no  predom- 
inant Armenian  element,  was  still  a  place  of  power. 
I  began  soon  to  have  visitors,  ostensibly  to  see  the 
marvels  of  electricity  or  other  physical  experiments, 
but  really  to  make  inquiries  about    the    evangelical 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


213 


faith.  I  could  not  help  learning  the  Armenian,  for 
I  was  talking  all  the  time  with  students  or  with 
visitors.  But  the  Patriarch  became  alarmed  about 
the  Bible  school.  The  bankers  put  him  up  to  de- 
stroy it,  to  shut  it  up,  to  take  away  every  Armenian 
student  from  it. 

One  of  the  students  told  me  that  the  Armenian 
priest  was  trying  to  get  a  list  of  the  students,  twelve 
in  number.  I  knew  it  was  for  no  good  purpose,  and 
they  agreed  not  to  help  him  in  the  least.  I  fear  they 
provoked  him  by  answers  which  he  knew  to  be  as  wide 
as  possible  from  the  fact,  as,  *'  My  father  is  Carabet 
Agha,  banker  of  Bagdad,  or  fig  merchant  of  Aidin  !  '* 
Emissaries  came  with  flattering  lips  and  tried  the 
same  game,  always  to  their  confusion ;  for  I  gave  them 
to  understand  that  their  hypocrisy  was  not  deep 
enough  to  cover  their  designs.  But  I  knew  that  the 
design  was  not  a  difficult  thing  for  the  Patriarch  to 
accomplish,  and  I  was  looking  for  some  move  against 
the  seminary  through  the  Turkish  government. 

One  afternoon,  just  as  study  hour  closed,  an  hour 
before  sunset,  a  strange,  decrepit,  shabby-looking 
being,  all  bent  double  with  rheumatism,  called  and 
wanted  to  see  me  privately.  The  moment  we  en- 
tered my  study  he  said  :  "  Baron  Nishan,  the 
Patriarch's  secretary,  sends  his  compliments  to  you 
and  wishes  you  to  know  that  his  holiness  has    the 


214 


MV  LIFE  AND   TIMES. 


names  of  your  students  and  their  parents  or  guard- 
ians. To-morrow  morning  they  will  be  called  to 
the  patriarchate,  and  thrown  into  prison  until  the 
students  all  leave  the  school  and  appear  before  him. 
Nishan  tells  you  this,  that  you  may  think  what  to  do, 
and  he  entrusts  himself  to  your  honor." 

He  said  this  rapidly,  turned  upon  his  heel,  and 
disappeared.  I  immediately  resolved  what  to  do. 
I  rang  the  bell,  and  the  students  came  wandering  in. 
I  told  them  of  the  coming  storm,  and  that  they  must 
each  one  take  a  hasty  bundle  of  clothes,  and  make 
for  home,  so  as  to  get  in  before  the  gates  were  shut. 
In  the  morning  they  must  go  with  their  parents, 
carry  my  compliments  to  the  Patriarch,  and  say  that 
I  had  come  to  assist  his  people,  not  to  contend 
against  him,  and  that  I  had  closed  the  seminary  and 
dismissed  every  student,  etc. 

One  of  the  students  delivered  the  message  at  the 
head  of  this  most  unexpected  assembly  of  parents 
and  scholars.  He  probably  graced  it  with  all  the 
Oriental  oratory  he  could  command.  The  Patriarch 
seemed  for  the  moment  confounded. 

One  of  the  students,  full  of  fun,  came  back  the 
same  day  to  make  a  brief  call  and  describe  the 
scene.  They  all  stood  before  his  holiness,  who 
stroked  his  beard,  and  at  length  said  :  "  Mr.  Hamlin 
is  a  good  and  wise  man  to  do  this  thing.     It  relieves 


BEBEK  SEMINAR  V.  2  I  5 

me  of  the  unpleasant  duty  forced  upon  me  by  the 
serafs  of  using  force.  But  we  shall  soon  have 
a  school  much  better  for  us  than  that  foreign  thing, 
and  you  shall  all  be  satisfied.  Now  come  and  kiss 
my  hand,  and  go  home  with  my  paternal  benediction." 

So  they  all  departed. 

"I  came,"  said  the  student,  ''to  tell  you  how 
nicely  it  all  went  off ;  and  I  want  to  tell  you 
another  thing.  There  is  a  great  storm  rising  against 
the  Patriarch  and  the  serafs.  A  great  petition  of 
the  esnafs  is  getting  up  against  them.  The  Patri- 
arch and  the  serafs  too  will  soon  have  a  Jicad- 
acJie  that  won't  let  them  think  of  Bebek  for  a  year 
to  come.     We  all  believe  you  will  call  us  back." 

"■  I  have  heard  about  that  movement,"  I  replied, 
''and  the  English  all  approve  of  it.  At  all  events 
there  is  a  vacation  now,  and  there  is  time  enough  to 
think  of  the  next  move." 

But  who  was  the  man  who  came  to  warn  me } 
No  one  knew  him.  Those  who  saw  him  thought 
him  a  miserable,  decrepit  beggar.  I  reflected  that 
his  message  was  given  in  perfectly  clear,  good 
Armenian  and  in  a  cultivated  voice.  I  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  probably  NisJian  Jiiviself,  who 
had  thus  disguised  himself  and  played  the  actor  to 
perfection  !  I  knew  he  always  felt  friendly  to  me 
and  would  defend  me  against  slanders. 


2  I  6  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

The  storm  burst  in  even  greater  power  than  any 
one  anticipated.  The  Armenian  community  paid 
heavy  taxes  to  the  patriarchate,  and  they  were 
determined  to  have  delegates  in  the  Council. 
They  gained  their  end.  It  would  take  a  dozen 
pages  to  give  anything  like  an  adequate  account  of 
that  movement.  The  esnafs  triumphed,  and  the 
power  of  the  serafs  was  broken. 

After  a  vacation  of  some  three  weeks,  that  storm 
broke  upon  the  patriarchate  with  such  force  that  we 
called  back  the  students,  and  we  had  fourteen  instead 
of  twelve.  No  one  thought  or  cared  for  us.  We 
had  had  a  very  suitable  vacation,  and  then  went  on 
our  way  rejoicing.  We  made  no  flourish  of  trumpets, 
were  quiet  as  possible,  and  many  rejoiced  in  the 
failure  of  the  Patriarch's  plan,  who  had  not  been 
friendly  to  us.  They  rejoiced  also  that  I  had  turned 
the  Patriarch's  flank  so  neatly,  and  just  used  him  for 
a  vacation.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  was  divinely  led 
to  do  instantaneously  the  right  thing,  when  there 
was  no  time  for  reflection. 

The  people  of  the  village,  Greeks  and  Armenians, 
did  not  like  to  have  a  heretic  among  them.  Perkins 
had  been  driven  away,  and  they  would  drive  me 
away.  The  gamins  threw  stones  at  us  from  con- 
cealed places,  stoned  the  roof  of  our  house  from 
the  hill  back  of  it,  and  broke  tiles  so   as    to    make 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  21  J 

the  roof  leak.  That  I  could  easily  repair.  For  the 
stoning  in  the  street  I  went  to  the  village  guard- 
house and  complained.  It  would  then  stop  for  two 
or  three  weeks.  It  was  a  long  time  before  any  one 
was  hit,  and  I  suspected  they  were  afraid  to  actually 
hit  one.  When  at  length  Henrietta  was  hit,  thougch 
not  much  hurt,  I  demanded  redress  and  the  police 
did  frighten  the  rascals  into  order  for  a  long  time. 

One  day  a  simple-hearted  old  Greek  woman  from 
the  dere  (the  gorge)  came  and  wanted  the  pay  for 
her  two  hens.  She  had  lost  them.  It  was  Lent ; 
her  neighbors  all  told  her  that  I  ate  meat  in  Lent ; 
who  else  would  take  them  }  I  was  greatly  amused. 
I  gave  her  a  good  lecture,  kindly,  and  she  came  no 
more. 

As  I  found  the  boys  ridiculed  my  stovepipe  hat 
and  smooth  face,  I  put  on  the  Turkish  fez  and  a 
moustache  and  beard. 

One  other  thing  I  did  which  all  the  village  liked 
and  wondered  at.  It  was  a  sin  perhaps,  but  under 
the  circumstances  it  was  not  a  mortal  sin.  I  was 
going  down  to  "  the  trees,"  and  on  my  way  there 
thought  I  would  go  up  to  the  Hekim  Bashis  garden. 
I  crossed  over  to  enter  the  narrow  street  going  down 
by  the  bath.  I  heard  somebody  screaming,  and  just 
as  I  entered  the  street  I  came  upon  a  stout,  strong 
Turk  most  cruell)'  whipping  a  Greek  boy  of  perhaps 


2  1 8  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

ten  years.  The  boy  was  screaming,  "  Don't  kill  me  ! 
don't  kill  me  !  "  I  had  a  stout  cane  in  my  hand,  and 
quick  as  thought  I  dealt  the  Turk  a  blow  that  made 
him  stagger  back  to  the  wall.  He  dropped  both  boy 
and  stick,  and  seemed  surprised  at  what  had  hap- 
pened to  his  head,  which  he  clutched  with  both 
hands.  I  saw  to  my  dismay  some  four  or  five  Turks 
in  the  street  coming  down  upon  me.  I  could  not 
escape  if  I  would.  I  knew  they  would  seize  me,  for 
I,  a  ghiaour,  had  struck  a  believer.  I  faced  them 
boldly  and  said  :  "■  I  will  have  every  one  of  you 
arrested.  I  will  go  right  to  the  Kolook  and  get 
a  zaptie.  You  saw  him  beating  that  boy  and  knew 
that  it  was  against  the  law,  and  you  did  not  even  say 
a  word." 

This  confused  them  and  alarmed  them.  It  changed 
the  current  of  their  thoughts  at  once,  and  they  said  : 
*'  Don't  do  that,  chelebec.  We  will  be  surety  for 
that  man  that  he  shall  never  beat  a  boy  again." 

So  I  concluded  to  let  them  off  that  time  on  the 
promise  they  would  never  do  so  again!  I  went  on 
my  way  rejoicing,  but  with  a  double  feeling  of  right 
and  wrong. 

I  do  not  justify  myself  in  such  things.  I  have 
always  been  of  quick  temper,  and  it  has  frequently 
betrayed  me  into  acts  like  this.  But  I  do  not 
remember   any    bad   consequences   following    them. 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  2ig 

A  Greek  neighbor,  a  drunkard,  had  dragged  his 
sick  wife  out  of  bed  and  out-of-doors  into  the  street 
in  her  night  dress.  Women  screamed,  but  nobody 
dared  to  touch  him.  Henrietta  rushed  to  my  study 
crying  out,  "  Father,  that  old  fisherman  down  in  the 
valley  is  beating  his  wife  to  death  on  the  street !  " 
I  rushed  down  upon  him,  twitched  him  on  to  the 
ground  before  he  knew  what  had  happened,  pounded 
him,  kicked  him,  and  made  him  cry  out,  ^' Aman ! 
aman ! "  It  was  because  every  fiber  of  my  frame 
was  full  of  infinite  wrath  that  he  was  paralyzed,  and 
infinite  justice  was  on  my  side  too.  It  is  not  best 
to  analyze  too  closely  what  I  did.  When  I  knew 
my  breath  and  strength  would  finally  give  out,  I 
shook  my  fist  at  him  and  said  :  "  The  next  time,  you 
brute,  I  '11  give  you  into  the  hands  of  the  Turkish 
police  !  " 

The  neighbors  were  glad  that  I  took  the  law  into 
my  own  hands.  There  was  a  ludicrous  side  to 
the  whole  scene.  That  old  fisherman  could  have 
"chawed  me  up"  in  a  minute.  He  seemed  utterly 
powerless.  He  did  n't  know  what  had  happened  to 
him.  He  made  no  sign  of  resistance.  They  have 
a  great  fear  of  Diabolos,  and  perhaps  he  thought 
Diabolos  had  got  him.  No  violence  of  that  kind 
occurred  in  that  neighborhood  right  under  our  win- 
dows after  that,  and  the  old  brute  never  offered  me. 


2  20  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

any  threat  or  insult.  In  case  of  sickness  most  of 
those  poor  families  came  to  me,  and  they  could  not 
afford  to  be  otherwise  than  civil.  I  never  refused  to 
answer  a  call  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night. 

The  seminary  was  opened  November,  1840.  The 
following  May  "the  French  College"  was  opened 
in  the  same  village  with  great  eclat,  and  the  design 
was  undoubtedly  to  overthrow  us  and  cut  short 
our  power.  Nothing  of  that  kind  followed,  though 
some  doubtless  were  diverted  from  us  by  it.  It  had 
many  teachers,  French  and  Italian  priests,  and  it 
made  a  great  display,  but  its  curriculum  of  study 
was  a  farce.  It  gathered  French  and  Italian  stu- 
dents and  but  few  Greek  and  Armenian.  I  do  not 
think  it  accomplished  a  single  object  for  which  it 
was  established.  It  finally,  after  some  thirty  years, 
faded  into  "innocuous  desuetude,"  and  the  place 
that  once  knew  it  now  knows  it  no  more  for  ever. 

I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  later  of  the  Abb6 
Bore,  who  was  sent  by  the  general  of  the  Jesuits  to 
regenerate  the  college,  and  was  recalled  to  Rome  for 
his  ill  success.  xVnother  was  appointed  to  do  the 
work,  but  after  a  few  years  of  frantic  effort  he 
wisely  closed  the  college  ''for  repairs."  The  build- 
ings were  afterward  changed  into  residences  and 
occupied  by  Protestant  families.  I  think  most  of 
them  have  since  been  burned.     The  next  generation 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  221 

will  never  hear  of  its  existence  unless  some  one 
should- read  this  record.  The  Jesuits  do  not  always 
accomplish  their  purposes. 

Near  the  close  of  the  first  seminary  year,  the 
station  voted  to  enlarge  the  school  and  to  seek  a 
larger  building.  We  removed  in  November,  1841, 
to  the  Demirgi  Bashi's  house  in  the  same  village. 
The  grounds  were  large,  commanding  a  very  lovely 
view  of  the  Bosphorus.  Instead  of  fourteen  students, 
we  could  now  have  twenty. 

The  Armenian  Patriarch  still  manifested  in  various 
ways  his  design  to  have  us  return  to  our  own  coun- 
try and  leave  the  education  of  Armenian  youth  to 
him.  He  would  sometimes  succeed  in  compelling 
a  student  to  leave  the  school,  who  often  would 
return  after  a  few  months.  He  was  always  unsuc- 
cessful in  his  plots.  He  was  put  up  to  it  by  the 
serafs,  and  I  suspect  had  little  heart  in  it  himself. 
Behind  it  all  was  Russia. 

Hohannes  Agha,  the  owner  of  the  house,  had 
been  the  chief  iron  merchant  of  the  government, 
supplying  all  the  public  works  for  the  navy  or  army 
whatever  of  iron  they  wanted.  It  was  a  place  of 
honor,  profit,  and  influence,  but  not  of  safety.  Ene- 
mies who  coveted  the  place  compassed  his  ruin 
by  false  accusations.  He  was  seized,  thrown  into 
prison,    and    his    wealth    confiscated.     Although    he 


222  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

was  released  as  innocent,  his  property  was  but  par- 
tially restored,  and  his  reason  was  touched.  He 
would  never  meet  a  Turk  in  the  street,  if  anything 
more  than  a  laborer.  He  would  turn  right  back  to 
avoid  him.  But  he  was  social  and  pleasant  in  inter- 
course, and  would  rarely  broach  any  of  the  strange 
ideas  that  possessed  him.  He  was  fond  of  Old 
Testament  history,  and  always  had  something  to 
advance  or  to  ask  about  the  patriarchs  or  prophets  or 
the  Mosaic  law  or  the  judgments  upon  Israel,  and  if 
those  old  curses  still  held  good  upon  the  race.  I 
always  treated  him  with  kindness  and  he  held  me 
in  high  esteem.  He  died  a  few  years  later,  but  I 
did  not  see  him  in  his  last  illness.  He  seemed  to 
have  a  knowledge  of  God,  to  wish  to  know  and  do 
his  will.  If  that  were  so,  his  aberrations  of  mind 
will  not  appear  in  judgment. 

When  he  first  called  upon  me  he  brought  with 
him  his  youngest  daughter,  a  beautiful,  bright,  black- 
eyed  maiden  of  ten  or  twelve.  Wife  was  interested 
in  her  at  once.  I  was  glad  to  find  she  knew  how  to 
read,  not  so  comrxion  then  (1841)  among  Armenian 
girls  as  now.  I  gave  her  a  modern  Armenian  New 
Testament,  and  she  read  clearly  and  distinctly  a  few 
verses,  and  stopped  to  say,  **  This  is  not  like  ours. 
This  is  asharapar''  (modern  Armenian).  As  she 
expressed  an  interest  in  it,  I  gave  her  the  book  upon 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


223 


her  promise  that  she  would  read  it.  She  often  came 
after  that  with  her  father,  and  had  many  questions  to 
ask,  which  showed  a  remarkable  degree  of  interest 
in  the  truth. 

One  evening  she  came  in,  at  children's  bedtime, 
and  saw  through  an  open  door  little  Henrietta  kneel- 
ing in  prayer  by  her  mother's  side.  She  expressed 
surprise  that  such  a  little  thing  should  pray.  She 
asked  the  mother  about  the  prayer,  and  if  such  a 
child  could  know  God.  It  led  her  to  much  thought 
and  to  many  inquiries  about  prayer.  In  after  life 
she  often  dated  the  beginning  of  spiritual  life  in 
her  own  soul  from  that  little  event.  In  after  years 
she  became  known  through  all  the  Protestant  Arme- 
nian community  as  Zanazan  Hanum,  wife  of  the 
first  Armenian  Protestant  pastor,  Rev.  Absoghome 
Utidjian,  who  died  not  many  months  after  their 
marriage.  After  a  widowhood  of  some  years  she 
became  the  wife  of  Rev.  Hohannes  Der  Sahakyan. 
Her  life  was  one  of  devoted  service,  and  she  died 
in  the  full  assurance  of  faith,  and  has  left  a  precious 
memory  to  the  church.  She  may  justly  wear  the 
most  honorable  title  of  a  true  Christian  lady.  She 
was  a  lady  by  nature,  by  grace  a  Christian. 

While  in  this  house,  we  took  a  family  journey  to 
Brousa,  wife  and  two  children,  Henrietta  three  years 
eight  months,  Susan  Elizabeth  one  year  four  months. 


2  24  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^    TIMES. 

We  were  both  run  down,  and  we  hoped  two  weeks' 
vacation,  from  August  25  to  September  10,  would 
recruit  us  in  that  city,  so  splendidly  situated  at  the 
base  of  Mount  Olympus,  and  in  the  families  of  our 
beloved  associates,  the  Schneiders  and  Ladds,  at 
whose  urgent  invitation  we  went.  Their  names  are 
fragrant  in  all  that  mission.  While  there,  I  made 
my  first  of  four  ascents  to  the  summit  of  Mount 
Olympus.  I  quote  the  following  mostly  from  a  letter 
written  to  my  brother  Hannibal  on  my  return  :  — 

"I  ascended  the  Asiatic  Mount  Olympus  back 
of  Brousa,  took  a  tent,  stayed  overnight  near  the 
summit,  and  saw  in  a  thick  morning  fog  full  ten  rods 
of  the  sublime  scenery.  ...  In  returning  to  our 
tent  we  became  lost  in  the  fog,  and  my  guide  seemed 
greatly  alarmed,  continually  repeating,  '  Duman! 
dumaii ! '  (Fog  !  fog !)  At  last  we  struck  a  moun- 
tain brook,  and  the  guide  exclaimed  :  '  This  water 
goes  right  by  our  tent.'  These  mountain  horses  are 
a  marvel.  They  went  down  in  the  bed  of  the  stream 
where  no  horse  ought  to  go.  At  one  place  I  cried 
out  to  the  guide  :  *  Stop  ;  I  am  going  to  dismount !  ' 
*  Shut  your  eyes  and  hold  on  to  the  crupper,'  was 
his  reply,  *  and  let  the  horse  take  care  of  himself.' 
We  went  safely  down ;  but  deliver  me  from  such 
riding  in  future  !  .  .  . 

"  Oh,  how  vividly  did  my  native  home  rush  upon 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  225 

my  mind,  with  all  its  familiar  objects  and  scenes, 
when,  on  gaining  one  of  the  preliminary  summits  in 
our  ascent  we  found  ourselves  on  a  level  plateau 
with  cragged  summits  around  us !  Here  were  mul- 
lein stalks,  granite  rocks,  pine  bushes,  hemlocks, 
burdocks,  birch  trees,  fine  red  thistles,  genuine 
yellow  weed,  and  green  grass  and  running  streams 
and  a  cold  New  England  wind.  I  said  to  myself :  *  I 
have  surely  reached  a  New  England  spring  and  my 
native  home.  Here  is  Deer  Hill,  and  there  is  our 
own  pasture  with  its  pine  bushes  and  swamp  and 
that  great  pine  root  we  used  to  climb  to  find  the 
colt,  which  at  about  ten  years  of  age  suddenly 
changed  to  the  old  mare,  and  was  always  getting 
lost  among  the  bushes.' 

''This  New  England  wind,  everything,  indeed, 
breathes  of  home,  sweet,  half-forgotten  home,  just 
as  it  was  in  '27,  when  I  left  it,  dearer  to  me  than 
all  other  scenes  on  earth.  The  matchless  beauty  of 
the  Bosphorus  becomes  tame,  almost  nauseous,  com- 
pared with  this  taste  of  home  and  its  free,  bracing 
air.  How  wonderful  is  nature  !  or  rather  how  won- 
derful the  laws  which  an  all-wise  designing  Mind  has 
imposed  upon  nature,  ourselves  included  ! 

"We  were  actually  in  the  climate  of  Maine,  on 
the  same  geological  formation  which  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  from  our  infancy  ;  and  there  also  are 


2  26  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

the  products,  the  very  weeds  and  grasses  of  our  old 
home.  It  refreshed,  it  also  subdued,  my  very  soul. 
It  awakened  the  most  tender  recollections  of  our 
beloved,  our  ever-beloved  mother,  and  of  her  faith- 
ful maternal  care  and  anxiety,  and  of  you  all,  my 
brother  and  sisters,  whom  I  never  expect  to  behold 
in  the  flesh.  May  he  who  watched  over  us  in  child- 
hood be  our  God  and  Father  even  unto  death,  and 
gather  us  all  safely  into  his  heavenly  kingdom  !  " 

I  remember  well  that  in  that  ascent  I  found 
immense  bowlders  of  granite,  gneiss,  trap,  etc.,  but 
not  a  sign  of  marble  till  near  the  very  summit ;  but 
the  whole  top  is  pure  marble.  It  carried  up  its 
marble  cap  when  the  other  strata  divided,  and  they 
lie  along  its  sides.  I  carried  home  a  splendid  speci- 
men of  geode  and  some  fine,  intricately  celled  tufa 
from  old  Brousa,  built  on  a  vast  basement  of  tufa  like 
a  giant's  head,  its  back  against  the  mountain,  its 
forehead  fronting  the  plain.  After  a  most  delight- 
ful visit,  we  returned  to  pack  up  and  transfer  the 
seminary  to  Cheleby  Yorgaki's  house.^ 

Our  dear  little  Susie  was  cutting  eyeteeth,  and 
she  was  also  touched  with  the  malaria  of  the  Brousa 
plain.  She  was  very  ill  while  we  had  all  the  labor  of 
moving,  and  seemed  to  grow  worse  and  worse  during 
all    the   month    of   November.     We   went    into   the 

1  See  Among  the  Turks,  page  95  ff. 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  227 

great  house  which  we  were  to  occupy  for  nearly 
twenty-eight  years,  with  heavy  hearts  and  great 
fatigue.  I  despaired  of  Susie's  life,  but  her  dear 
mother  kept  calm,  self-possessed,  and  hopeful. 

It  .seemed  to  us  that  a  mistake  or  blunder  was  the 
means  of  saving  her  precious  life.  I  was  to  give  her 
a  drop  of  laudanum.  My  laudanum  was  very  thick, 
the  alcohol  having  largely  evaporated.  I  probably 
gave  her  the  opium  of  three  drops  or  more.  She 
sank  into  a  heavy  sleep  and  slept  all  night  long  ;  the 
diarrhoea  ceased,  the  child  awoke  with  life  in  her 
countenance.  The  doctor  said  that  a  mistake  is 
sometimes  a  good   thing. 

No  labor  was  fatigue  when  Susie,  the  dear  little 
mimic  of  everything  she  saw,  was  herself  again. 
Her  natural  capacity  for  mimicry  was  altogether 
beyond  Henrietta's,  and  often  raised  shouts  of 
laughter.  Her  mother  said  she  feared  Susie  would 
some  day  become  an  actress.  Did  this  talent  come 
by  heredity }  It  was  not  in  any  of  her  ancestry,  so 
far  as  we  could  ascertain. 

The  two  years  that  we  passed  in  the  Demirgi 
Bashi's  house,  November,  1841,  to  November,  1843, 
were  memorable  for  a  number  of  events,  Susie's 
birth.  May  6,  1842,  and  her  sickness  and  recovery  in 
1843.  But  above  all,  the  last  year  is  memorable  as 
"the  year  of  a  thousand  visits." 


228  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Many  came  in  the  forenoon  to  attend  our  forenoon 
service,  some  to  the  afternoon  Bible  class.  There 
might  be  ten  to  fifteen  on  the  Sabbath,  and  occasion- 
ally as  many  on  a  week  day.  It  was  only  by  a  gen- 
eral estimate  that  we  considered  it  a  thousand. 

There  were  special  reasons  why  the  attendance 
should  be  large.  Persecution  was  rife.  Other  places 
were  watched,  this  was  not.  Many  came  from  curi- 
osity to  see  noted  experiments  in  physics  and  chem- 
istry. Turks,  Jews,  Greeks  came,  and  this  gave 
absolute  liberty  for  those  whose  minds  were  not  at 
rest,  or  whose  curiosity  was  awakened  on  religious 
subjects,  to  come  as  seekers  after  God  and  truth. 

I  remember  that  I  was  one  day  hard  at  work  upon 
my  foot  lathe,  completing  some  philosophical  appara- 
tus, when  a  man  opened  the  door  and  said  abruptly: 
**  Come  and  preach  to  us  the  gospel,  badville.'"  I 
washed  my  hands,  slipped  on  my  coat,  and  found 
seventeen  persons  in  the  reception  room,  men  and 
women.  The  man  who  called  me  was  Jelagian 
Muggerditch,  a  young  man  of  respectability  and  in- 
fluence in  the  esnaf  of  jewelers.  In  such  a  case 
the  missionary  can  do  Httle  but  restate  in  clearest, 
simplest  terms  the  great  subject,  sin,  condemnation, 
and  redemption  through  repentance  and  faith  in 
Christ.  They  will  listen  with  profound  attention, 
and  will  perhaps  interpose  some  questions  about  the 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  229 

Virgin  Mary  and  the  saints  and  the  Church.  It  is  a 
very  good  kind  of  preaching.  It  gives  one  an  oppor- 
tunity to  explain  points  that  have  been  misappre- 
hended, and  to  ask  questions  in  turn  and  to  clear  up 
doubts.  Some  of  the  inquirers  of  that  year  I  hold 
in  memory  and  in  affectionate  regard.  In  these 
forty-five  intervening  years  most  of  them  have 
passed  away  from  earth  or  out  of  my  knowledge. 
Two  cases  I  must  mention  :  — 

One  was  Asdik  Agha,  eldest  son  of  the  Demirgi 
Bashi,  owner  of  our  house.  He  was  short  of  stature, 
with  back  and  shoulders  high  almost  to  deformity. 
He  had  a  very  intelligent  countenance  and  the 
sparkle  of  his  eye  showed  when  he  was  interested. 
The  deep  interest  of  his  young  sister,  Zanazan,  of 
whom  he  was  very  proud,  doubtless  led  him  to 
inquire  into  this  new  faith.  He  had  been  told  we 
were  disciples  of  Voltaire  !  He  seemed  not  only  sur- 
prised but  absorbed  in  his  investigations.  He  be- 
came an  ardent  and  able  advocate  of  the  truth,  and 
was  chosen  the  first  deacon  of  the  first  Armenian 
Protestant  church  in  1846.  After  a  time,  when  he 
had  become  successful  in  business,  it  was  whispered 
that  his  transactions  were  not  perfectly  honest.  He 
was  labored  with  faithfully  by  the  church  ;  he  made 
most  humble  and  penitent  confession  ;  afterward  he 
was    suspended   for   flagrant    deception,  and   finally 


230 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


excommunicated.  He  became  notorious  for  his  skill- 
ful  and  successful  rascalities.  I  had  a  conversation 
with  him  in  the  height  of  his  success.  He  broke 
down  and  wept,  and  said  :  '*  It  is  all  true.  I  hope 
some  day  to  get  out  of  the  clutches  of  Satan,  but 
you  see  I  have  great  things  now  in  hand  that  I  must 
carry  through." 

His  death  was  tragic.  He  knew  that  two  Mon- 
tenegrins had  been  hired  by  parties  he  had  cheated 
to  assassinate  him.  Returning  home  one  evening,  he 
was  overtaken  by  such  a  thunderstorm  as  Constanti- 
nople rarely  sees.  He  stepped  into  a  coffee  shop 
not  far  from  his  house  to  escape  the  pouring  rain. 
There,  to  his  horror,  sat  the  two  assassins.  At  first 
he  thought  his  time  had  come,  as  on  leaving  the 
coffee  shop  they  would  follow  him.  But  his  skill  did 
not  forsake  him.  Throwing  off  his  coat  and  fez,  he 
called  the  barber  (all  cafegis  2iX^  barbers)  to  shave 
him,  in  a  little  corner  room  which  had  no  door  out 
and  rather  a  small  window.  Here  he  told  the  barber 
his  fate.  The  barber  helped  him  out  through  the 
window,  and  about  five  minutes  later  came  out  and 
said:  "Where  is  Asdik  Agha .?  He  hasn't  paid 
me!" 

Everybody  was  surprised  ;  the  assassins  immedi- 
ately left,  but  Asdik  had  already  reached  his  home 
in  the  fearful  rage  of  the  elements,  breathless,  with 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


231 


staring  eyes  and  a  convulsed  frame.  He  threw  him- 
self upon  a  lounge  and  never  spoke,  stricken  by- 
paralysis.  He  lived  a  day  or  two  in  apparent  ter- 
ror, let  us  hope  in  penitence.  The  night  after  his 
funeral,  the  lightning  struck  the  tree  at  the  head  of 
his  grave  **and  split  it  into  match  wood."  Turks, 
Christians,  Jews  said  :  ''The  judgment  of  God  !  " 

The  other  case  had  a  far  different  ending.  One 
day  four  Armenians  called,  all  strangers,  saying, 
"Mr.  Hovesep  Milesian  invited  us  to  call."  There 
was  evident  restraint.  After  coffee  and  chibouks 
were  served,  and  all  the  common  phases  of  Oriental 
etiquette  had  been  duly  performed,  one  of  them, 
Bedros  Gamalielian,  introduced  the  subject  which, 
as  I  afterwards  learned,  was  the  object  of  their  call. 
He  remarked,  after  some  hesitation  :  — 

"  We  Catholics  differ,  I  think,  from  you  in  matters 
of  faith." 

"In  some  things  we  differ  and  in  some  we  agree." 

"  But  in  the  foundation  question,  of  the  holy 
communion,  you  do  not  believe  the  words,  the 
very  words  of  our  blessed  Lord:  'This  is  my  body, 
this  is  my  blood.'  " 

"Oh,  yes,  we  do,"  I  said.  "We  receive  the  whole 
Bible,  every  word  of  it,  and  our  only  desire  is  to 
understand  it  aright.  Let  us  now  look  into  Bible 
language  a  little." 


232  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Then  taking  a  Bible,  and  beginning  at  Pharaoh's 
dream,  the  seven  kine  and  seven  years  and  so  on,  I 
went  through  with  the  use  of  is  and  are  in  the  Bible, 
where  the  meaning  plainly  is  and  must  be  '*  repre- 
sents." When  I  came  to  apply  it  to  "this  is  my 
body,"  he  felt  its  force. 

The  others  felt  that  they  had  lost  the  game,  and 
retired,  but  Bedros  wanted  a  Bible,  and  he  came  and 
sat  down  on  the  carpet  right  in  front  of  me  to  go 
over  with  it  all  again.  At  length  the  dinner  bell 
rang  (6p.m.)  and  I  said  to  him:  "We  must  stop 
here.     Come  again." 

He  rose,  and  said  :  "When  can  I  come  again  t  I 
must  pursue  this  matter." 

I  replied:  "To-morrow,  if  you  like;"  and  so  he 
departed. 

The  very  next  day  he  returned,  and  had  other 
questions  to  ask  about  the  new  birth,  faith,  con- 
fession, absolution,  and  things  of  that  kind. 

At  the  close  of  the  interview,  he  said  as  he  rose 
to  depart :  "  Well,  if  all  this  is  true,  all  Papacy  is 
wrong.     I  can't  deny  that  you  have  the  truth." 

I  replied  :  "Take  the  Bible,  study  it,  pray  for  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  help  you,  and  follow  the  truth  as  you 
there  find  it." 

He  became  an  earnest  Christian.  He  was  a  very 
earnest  Catholic,  and  the  circumstance   that   led  to 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  233 

this  visit  and  to  this  discussion  and  to  his  conver- 
sion was  the  following:— Speaking  with  great  severity 
against  the  American  missionaries  in  a  coffee 
shop,  a  friend  of  ours,  Mr.  Melesian,  asked  him  if  he 
actually  knew  the  truth  of  his  accusations.  No ; 
but  he  had  heard  so.  "  But  go  and  see  them  and 
ascertain  for  yourself."  **  God  forbid  that  I  should 
enter  their  houses  !  "  He  then  advised  him  to  visit 
the  school  and  see  me,  which  he  agreed  to  do. 
With  his  three  friends  he  formed  a  plan  to  involve 
me  in  a  dispute  about  the  Holy  Sacrament,  which 
they  had  heard  would  excite  a  Protestant  to  blas- 
pheme it,  and  they  would  have  something  to  report 
that  would  raise  great  excitement  against  us.  The 
plot  failed  so  completely  that  the  reaction  in  his 
mind  could  not  be  resisted. 

He  was  of  course  cast  out  and  persecuted.  His 
own  family,  who  were  displeased  at  his  becoming  a 
Catholic,  were  still  more  displeased  at  his  becoming 
a  Protestant,  and  they  expelled  him  from  their 
presence  with  great  indignities.  He  had  a  brother, 
Hovsep,  a  great  wit,  a  great  song  singer,  and  as  such 
always  called  to  the  carousals  of  the  rich.  He  had 
become  dissolute  and  vile,  and  he  was  filled  with  hatred 
at  his  brother's  wonderful  change.  Bedros  often 
said  to  the  missionaries :  "  Pray  for  my  poor  brother 
Hovsep."     His    conversion,    humble    Christian    life, 


234  -^^  ^^^^  ^^^    TIMES. 

and  happy  death  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention. 
He  is  referred  to  by  Dr.  Dwight  in  his  Christianity 
Revived  in  the  East  (pp.  245,  246).  Bedros  lived 
to  see  every  member  of  his  family  in  the  evangel- 
ical church.  His  joy  was  unspeakable.  He  was  the 
instrument  of  turning  many  to  righteousness.  His 
end  was  peace  and  joyful  hope. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  my 
brother  Hannibal,  written  from  this  Demirgi  Bashi's 
house  in  reply  to  a  question  about  my  daily  work  :  — 

"  As  to  what  I  am  doing,  I  will  say  briefly,  I  am 
talking,  that  is,  preaching,  nearly  all  the  time.  I 
have  a  great  deal  of  outside  work  to  do.  I  have 
many  visitors  who  come  for  religious  inquiry  or 
discussion.  I  had  a  funny  interview  a  few  days  ago. 
A  certain  Toros  Effendi,  a  blatant  infidel,  came  with 
certain  of  his  followers.  He  had  boasted  that  he 
knew  as  much  science  and  philosophy  as  that  bad- 
ville.     I  resolved  to  test  him  on  science. 

"After  a  very  polite  introduction,  I  proposed  to  ask 
him  certain  questions,  to  which  he  assented.  I  began 
upon  the  actinism  of  light,  about  which  he  knew 
nothing.  He  knev/  as  little  of  the  precession  of 
the  equinoxes,  etc.  He  floundered  and  tried  to 
escape  to  other  subjects,  but  I  held  him  fast  to  the 
one  in  hand,  until  he  would  confess  that  he  knew 
nothing  about  it.     I  finally  intimated  to  him  that 


Rf,v.  G.  W.  Wood,  d.d. 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


235 


although  he  could  not  profess  to  be  a  philosopher, 
he  might  safely  profess  to  be  an  ignoramus.  I  was 
merciless,  because  I  had  heard  of  his  boasts  and  of 
his  large  following.  His  attendants  were  confounded 
and  ashamed,  and  one  of  them  said  :  '  That  man  will 
deceive  us  no  more.'  They  have  widely  reported 
his  complete  discomfiture.  If  I  meet  him  again,  I 
shall  discuss  sin  and  salvation." 

Before  I  left  that  house,  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Wood 
joined  me  as  associate  teacher.  He  lifted  a  great 
burden  off  my  shoulders.  So  much  visiting  and 
teaching  overtaxed  me.  He  was  an  able,  faithful, 
honored,  beloved  coadjutor  for  eight  years. 

When  shall  I  get  free  from  the  memories  of  that 
house } 

Another  signal  event  presses  forward  for  notice. 
During  the  early  part  of  1843,  four  Turkish  youths 
of  high  families,  students  in  a  college  at  Seraglio 
Point,  called  the  Sultan's  College,  because  all  its 
students  were  fitting  for  palace  service,  used  to  call 
at  the  seminary  to  see  the  physical  apparatus  and 
experiments.  They  were  peculiarly  fine  young 
Turks,  ranging  by  guess  from  eighteen  to  twenty-one. 
They  were  on  their  last  year,  and  then  they  would 
become  servants  in  the  palace,  subject  to  the  per- 
sonal commands  of  his  majesty,  doing  any  service, 
however  menial  or  however  responsible,  his  majesty 


236  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

might  appoint.  The  place  was  regarded  as  a  sure 
stepping-stone  to  high  office  for  any  young  man  of 
wit  and  talent.  They  interested  me  exceedingly. 
I  could  see  in  them  the  condition  of  the  Turkish 
mind,  its  strength  and  weakness,  sagacity  and  child- 
ishness—  or  childhoodness.  They  were  most  inter- 
ested in  the  question  of  long  life.  They  thought 
the  Franks  who  had  thought  out  so  many  things 
must  have  thought  out  this  problem  also,  greater 
than  any  other,  and  prepared  some  long-life  medi- 
cine which  taken  daily  would  be  efficacious. 

"  But  you  believe  in  the  '  preserved  tablet,'  "  I 
said;  "how  can  you  seek  any  such  thing.?" 

"  Ah,  but  that  also  is  in  the  *  preserved  tablet,' 
and  so  we  seek  it." 

Human  freedom  will  often  unconsciously  vindicate 
itself.  Electricity,  galvanism,  pneumatics  interested 
them  amazingly.  They  could  never  be  satisfied 
with  the  experiments  and  talking  about  them. 
When  they  had  no  Armenian  dragoman  with  them, 
I  called  a  student  or  assistant  teacher. 

One  day  in  August,  during  our  vacation,  two  of 
these  gentlemen  called  and  said  they  wanted  to 
make  some  return  for  my  kindness.  The  father  of 
one  of  them  was  chief  keeper  of  the  crown  treasures 
or  the  Sultan's  jewels.  These  are  rarely  shown, 
even  to  ambassadors  ;  but  his  father,  as  a  return  for 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


m 


all  my  kindness,  had  obtained  permission  to  open 
the  treasures.  I  have  no  doubt  that  other  and  far 
higher  persons  than  myself,  and  persons  of  official 
station,  were  the  real  objects  of  this  favor,  and 
these  young  men  had  seized  upon  the  opportunity 
to  rope  me  in.  It  was  perfectly  Oriental  to  repre- 
sent it  as  entirely  designed  for  me,  to  whom  origi- 
nally it  probably  had  no  reference  whatever. 

I  was  delighted  with  the  opportunity.  I  had  seen 
that  wonderful  treasure  vault  once,  and  I  was  glad 
that  I  could  behold  that  jeweled  splendor  once  more. 

With  Asdik  Agha  as  a  dragoman,  I  went  to  the 
appointed  place  on  the  Marmora  side  of  Seraglio 
Point,  and  met  two  of  the  young  men  waiting  for  us 
on  the  quay.  They  motioned  us  to  a  good  landing 
place,  and  we  entered  immediately  an  immense  mag- 
azine. We  could  see  vault  after  vault  stretching 
away  into  darkness.  The  work  was  evidently 
Byzantine,  and  was  doubtless  constructed  to  contain 
stores  against  a  siege.  Heavy  buildings  and  large 
trees  were  standing  on  the  soil  overhead.  Crossing 
this  vast  magazine,  vault  beyond  vault,  we  came  to 
a  solid  door  in  the  wall  which  admitted  us  into  a 
tunnel  evidently  ascending,  a  very  dim  light  at  the 
farther  end. 

My  dragoman  Asdik  evidently  did  not  like  it. 
There  were  other  ways  enough  to  reach   the  college 


238  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

without  going  through  this  dark,  damp,  chilly  subter- 
ranean hole.  But  we  emerged  safely  into  light,  and 
we  never  understood  the  design.  Was  it  anything 
more  than  to  show  us  what  secrets  may  be  buried 
beneath  the  gardens,  palaces,  and  old  churches  (now 
mosques  and  armories)  of  Seraglio  Point  }  If  so, 
they  did  not  point  out  anything,  and  only  answered 
to  our  inquiries:  ^^Eski  Ge^ievise''  (old,  old  Genoese). 

We  emerged  into  a  small  court  surrounded  by 
high  walls,  and  thence  directly  into  a  college  dormi- 
tory where  six  students  had  their  beds.  I  soon  per- 
ceived that  this  was  also  their  study  hall.  It  was 
furnished  with  neatness  but  great  simplicity.  Each 
one  had  a  good  iron  bedstead  with  two  neat  chests 
to  shove  underneath.  At  the  head,  and  •  reaching 
some  six  feet  above  the  bed,  was  a  cupboard.  There 
was  also  a  square  stool,  or  Persian  writing  desk,  with 
reeds,  ink,  paper,  etc.,  and  there  was  also  one  chair. 

This  was  the  Imperial  College.  Our  academy 
students  would  not  be  contented  with  such  quarters. 
There  was  a  small  hall  where  their  teachers  met 
them  for  examinations  and  lectures.  There  was  no 
such  thing  as  fixed  lessons  and  recitations.  Our 
four  friends  received  us  very  pleasantly,  and  after 
some  conversation  we  were  invited  to  their  dining 
hall  for  lunch.  It  was  evidently  the  refectory  of 
an    old    Greek    convent.     The    great    wide    arched 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  239 

chimney  at  one  end,  with  many  cooking  places,  proves 
its  former  use.  We  had  an  excellent  simple  lunch, 
served  on  a  platform  elevated  four  or  five  steps  from 
the  marble  pavement  of  the  old  refectory.  After 
lunch,  a  servant  came  and  served  coffee  and  chibouks. 
I  said  to  my  chief  host :  "  Your  amber  mouth- 
piece is  rich  with  diamonds,  and  this  zarf'is  splendid. 
Your  father  is  a  very  rich  man." 

"  Yes,"  he  replied  ;  "  I  gave  a  hundred  pounds  for 
this  set,  but  then  I  gave  ten  pounds  to  the  poor. 
That  is  according  to  our  law.  All  luxuries  must  be 
tithed  for  the  poor,  and  then  the  blessing  of  Allah 
is  upon  them." 

''This  is  an  admirable  law,"  I  said;  "but  do  the 
sultan  and  the  pashas  keep  it } " 
"  Ah,  that  is  quite  another  thing  !  " 
I  could  put  him  in  a  tight  place  as  to  their  piety, 
but  I  did  not  pursue  it.  One  of  the  young  men  had 
left,  then  another  left,  and  finally  our  host  said  :  "  I 
will  go  and  see  if  my  father  is  waiting." 

Time  passed,  and  someone  called  the  remaining 
young  man.  Asdik  became  uneasy  and  said  :  "  I 
will  go  out  and  ask  what  this  means." 

I  was  left  alone.  I  could  not  comprehend  my 
position  or  the  reason  of  it.  I  thought  best  to 
wait  and  not  sneak  off.  At  length  the  host  came^ 
bringing  on  a  silver  platter  three  bags  of  sweetmeat 


240  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

done  up  in  different-colored  muslins,  and  said : 
*' These  are  from  my  father,  with  his  regrets  that 
public  duties  have  kept  him  to-day,  and  he  will 
appoint  another  time.  This  is  for  your  house  (wife) 
and  these  are  for  your  chickens."  And  so,  with 
many  protestations,  he  led  us  out  by  another  way 
above  ground. 

I  said  to  Asdik  :  **  What  does  all  this  mean  }  " 

He  was  mystified  and  angry.  *'  There  is  a  quarrel 
among  them,  I  think,  but  they  were  bound  to  treat 
you  as  their  guest  with  more  honor,  and  not  run 
off  and  leave  you  all  alone.  That  was  disgraceful 
after  all  they  have  said  about  your  kindness." 

We  never  saw  one  of  them  again,  nor  did  we  get 
any  clew  to  their  history. 

If  we  had  gone  round  Seraglio  Point  to  the  chief 
landing-place,  the  mystery  would  have  been  revealed. 
There  we  should  have  seen  the  headless  body  of  the 
Armenian  martyr  Hovakim,  whose  case  is  recorded 
in  Dwight's  Christianity  Revived  in  the  East  (p. 
194)  and  Goodell's  Forty  Years  in  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire (pp.  291,  292).  The  excitement  about  it  was 
universal.  The  Christian  population  of  every  sect 
saw  in  it  the  revival  of  the  old  Turkish  despotism. 
The  softas  and  tdema  generally  bore  the  head  aloft 
and  stalked  along  with  a  proud  defiant  air,  as  much 
as  to  say,  '■'■  Now  you  will  have  to  know  your  places." 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  24 1 

Russia  alone  was  glad.  She  had  been  patronizing 
and  putting  forward  this  old  party  in  order  to  make 
trouble  and  to  snub  England. 

But  England  had  a  representative  of  too  great  a  per- 
sonality to  be  snubbed.  Sir  Stratford  Canning  was 
a  man  of  great  intelligence  and  grasp  of  intellect,  a 
statesman,  a  diplomat,  and  a  man  of  mighty, passions. 

What  he  undertook  he  was  not  likely  to  leave 
unfinished.  He  had  very  able  associates  in  the 
embassy.  He  saw  and  drew  forth  the  genius  of 
Sir  Austen  Henry  Layard  and  the  Rawlinsons.  He 
took  up  this  subject  of  the  execution  of  a  man  for 
being  a  Christian,  with  fell  determination.  He  suc- 
ceeded, notwithstanding  that  the  Russian  ambassa- 
dor stood  aloof,  in  forcing  the  sultan  to  give  his 
pledge  that  no  Christian  apostate  should  in  future 
be  executed.  This  promise  personally  given  by  the 
sultan  will  not  be  openly  violated.  Moslems  who 
become  Christians  may  be  assassinated  or  executed 
under  false  accusation,  but  Christian  Europe  will 
never  bear  a  repetition  of  that  martyrdom.  It  took 
hold  of  the  hearts  of  millions.  The  Turks  now  well 
understood  that  any  repetition  of  that  scene  would 
involve  the  expulsion  of  the  government  from 
Constantinople. 

This  measure  was  carried  through  by  Sir  Strat- 
ford Canning,   under  circumstances    which    to   most 


242  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

men  would  have  worn  the  aspect  of  the  impossible. 
The  most  friendly  and  liberal  Moslems  declared  it  to 
be  wholly  beyond  the  pale  of  discussion,  as  it  was  a 
sacred  law,  a  religious  law,  a  law  of  the  Koran,  and 
to  reverse  it  would  cause  a  universal  revolt.  All  the 
foreign  embassies  finally  withdrew  from  the  contest. 
With  Sir  Stratford  Canning  there  was  no  such  thing 
as  withdrawal.  Eternal  right  was  on  his  side.  His 
government  would  have  to  support  him,  and  he  would 
commit  his  government  and  settle  the  question 
before  there  was  time  to  receive  instructions.  Had 
the  telegraph  been  in  use  his  position  would  have 
been  untenable. 

He  examined  the  Koran  and  denied  that  any  such 
law  existed.  A  fierce  theological  debate  ensued,  and 
the  ambassador  had  the  best  of  the  argument.  His 
personal  influence  too  with  the  young  sultan  was 
very  great.  The  law  must  be  revoked  or  a  most 
solemn  official  pledge  given  that  it  shall  never  be 
enforced.  Otherwise  Christendom,  England  joining 
in,  would  demand  a  revolution.  So  it  was  accom- 
plished, to  the  joy  and  astonishment  of  the  world. 
The  Great  Elche  managed  his  own  government  with 
matchless  skill,  but  as  they  received  the  honor  they 
submitted  to  his  imperious  leadership.  ^ 

But    the    disposition   of    Islam    is    not    changed. 

1  See  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe's  Memoirs,  vol.  i,  p.  201  ff. 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  243 

Death  for  apostasy  is  inherent  in  the  faith.  Polyg- 
amy, concubinage,  slavery,  divorce,  death  penalty  — 
all  go  together  in  the  social  and  civil  life  of  Islam. 

An  incident  about  this  time  gave  me  unnecessary 
notoriety  among  the  ca'iqiicjies  (boatmen)  of  the 
village.  I  was  coming  from  the  city  with  a  Turkish 
boat  in  rough  weather,  and  when  close  to  Beshiktash 
the  blade  of  one  oar  struck  something  and  broke 
short  off  about  three  feet  from  the  end. 

An  acquaintance  among  the  Beshiktash  boatmen 
lent  him  an  oar.  I  made  him  recover  the  broken 
piece.  He  was  so  afflicted  at  the  loss  that  I  told 
him  to  bring  the  broken  parts  to  the  seminary,  and  I 
would  mend  them.  He  pronounced  it  impossible, 
but  I  so  encased  the  parts  in  tin  that  it  excited 
general  admiration,  and  I  think  it  was  a  good  piece 
of  work.  It  lasted  as  long  as  its  mate,  to  the  wonder 
of  the  boatmen. 

Not  long  after,  another  boatman  brought  me  his 
broken  oar,  saying  no  man  on  earth  could  mend  it 
but  me  !  I  told  him  I  should  mend  no  oars  except 
those  broken  in  my  service.  I  finally  took  it  and 
mended  it,  and  no  more  were  brought  me.  It  made 
all  the  boatmen,  however,  regard  me  as  a  friend,  and 
I  always  liked  to  do  a  kindness  to  that  sort  of  men. 


CHAPTER   X. 

BEBEK    SEMINARY. 

"VTT"E  had  now  removed  (November,  1843)  into 
^  ^  the  great  house  of  Cheleby  Yorgaki, 
once  the  distinguished  merchant  of  the  imperial 
palace.  Dr.  Wood  had  come  nobly  into  the  work, 
and  had  acquired  the  language  so  as  to  take  some 
of  the  classes  and  greatly  relieve  me.  He  was  to 
be  my  able  and  faithful  coadjutor  for  seven  years, 
when  the  failing  health  of  Mrs.  Wood  compelled 
his  return  to  the  United  States.  He  was  the  Assist- 
ant Secretary  of  the  Board  for  New  York  and  the 
West,  and  after  some  years  of  highly  valued  service 
he  returned  to  the  Armenian  field  in  Turkey. 
We  are  both  now  waiting  in  our  old  age  for  an- 
other appointment. 

We  found  it  necessary  to  reduce  the  visiting  to 
some  order,  and  Friday  became  a  general  reception 
day.  Our  numbers  increased  to  forty,  the  limit  that 
our  resources  forced  upon  us.  Our  services  on  the 
Sabbath  still  attracted  attendants  from  abroad,  and 
thus  the  seminary  was  a  place  eminently  favorable 
to  reach  certain  minds  with  gospel  truth. 

244 


Bkhek  Seminary 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  245 

One  Sunday  four  solid-looking  Armenians  from 
Yozgat  came  to  the  services.  Afterwards  they 
wanted  to  see  me,  and  had  many  questions  to  ask. 
Years  after  when  Yozgat  had  an  organized  Protest- 
ant community  and  church,  one  of  these  same  men 
called,  and  seemed  rather  surprised  that  I  did  not 
remember  him.  The  work  at  Yozgat  grew  out  of 
that  visit,  he  said. 

"  We  then  came  to  you  because  this  new  way  was 
so  reviled  that  we  suspected  it  might  not  be  so  bad. 
We  saw  and  felt  that  you  preached  the  truth.  We 
carried  the  Bible  and  books  back  with  us  to 
Yozgat,  and  everything  has  followed  from  that. 
That  was  the  beginning.  A  few  of  us  joined 
together  and  said.  We  have  the  truth  and  we  are 
going  to  stand  by  it.  We  h9.d  persecutions  and  dis- 
cussions before  any  missionary  visited  us." 

The  whole  missionary  work  at  Constantinople  has 
reached  the  interior  in  this  way.  Its  work  through 
the  press  in  translations,  authorship,  and  in  editing 
newspapers,  has  been  for  the  whole  country. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  E.  Bliss  joined  the  mission  and 
went  to  Trebizond.  Mrs.  Bliss  was  one  of  Tc\y parish- 
ioners while  I  was  preaching  in  the  Payson  church, 
(1837-38).  They  were  youthful,  devoted,  cheerful. 
Through  many  hard  experiences  they  have  borne 
themselves    nobly,    heroically,    patiently.     Harassed 


246  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

by  malarial  fevers,  they  have  done  the  work  of 
healthy,  vigorous  persons. 

The  great  house  I  had  just  entered  needed  many 
repairs  and  changes.  I  worked  very  hard,  both  in 
the  seminary  and  in  the  workshop.  My  letters  to 
my  mother  show  that  I  did  not  spare  myself.  I  was 
toughs  always  tough.  However  weary,  give  me  a  few 
hours'  sleep,  and  I  would  be  up  and  at  it  fresh  as 
ever.  As  this  was  a  natural  physical  trait,  there  was 
nothing  in  it  to  boast  of,  nothing  meritorious,  but 
something  to  be  thankful  for. 

We  had  prayers  at  5.30  a.m.  Students  read  round 
in  English  a  long  but  useful  service.  I  threw  in 
brief  remarks  as  we  went  along.  I  offered  prayer  in 
Armenian.  This  exercise  occupied  from  twenty  to 
thirty  minutes.  Then  came  the  morning  recitations 
till  seven  ;  at  seven,  breakfast.  The  school  reas- 
sembled at  nine  till  twelve.  Then  lunch  and  recess 
till  two,  then  study  hours  to  five.  Dinner  at  5.30  for 
the  school,  a  little  later  for  ourselves  ;  then  an  hour 
with  the  children  ;  and  study  again  from  7.30  to  9. 

What  times  we  used  to  have  after  Nettie  and 
Susie  were  well  on  their  feet,  and  as  one  after 
another  joined  !  The  hour  was  boisterous.  The 
children  were  always  delighted  to  have  me  play  bear 
or  elephant,  or  oil  merchant,  and  many  other  things. 
With   a  fur-lined  wrapper  wrong  side  out,  I  would 


BEBEK  SEMINARY, 


247 


personate  a  bear  so  that  the  children  would  rush  to 
their  mother  for  protection.  Dear  Susie,  whose  ima- 
gination was  always  too  strong  for  her,  would  promise 
to  remember  all  the  time  that  it  was  nothing  but  her 
dear  papa  ;  but  in  my  highest  bear  rage  she  would 
rush  to  her  mother  with  a  scream. 

The  furniture  would  get  knocked  round  some,  but 
the  mamma  was  always  tolerant  of  this  sport.  The 
children  always  thought  it  too  short,  but  it  did  them 
good,  and  certainly  it  did  their  papa  good.  Blind 
man's  buff  was  resorted  to  in  our  large  hall  when 
we  had  suitable  company  to  enlarge  the  circle.  No 
shadows  of  a  great  grief  had  then  come  over  us. 
Life  was  gay.  After  this  brief  refreshment,  I  was 
in  the  study  hall  till  nine  always,  hearing  one  or  two 
classes  whose  next  recitation  would  be  at  eleven  the 
next  day.  Three  days  a  week  I  had  a  lecture  at  two 
P.M.,  with  experiments.  It  demanded  no  little  time 
and  labor  to  prepare  for  these  lectures.  They  were 
always  attended  with  interest.  My  course  in  chem- 
istry was  probably  the  only  one  at  that  time  given  in 
the  great  capital,  outside  of  the  medical  college. 
Some  of  the  students  took  hold  of  the  study  with 
extraordinary  interest. 

At  nine  o'clock  I  returned  to  my  family  —  the 
children  all  locked  in  sleep,  and  sometimes  the 
wearied  mother,  who  was  quite  as  busy  in  her  duties 


248  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

as  I  in  mine.  But  when  Bebek  began  to  have  Eng- 
lish and  American  families,  evening  calls  had  to  be 
arranged  for ;  and  it  was  understood  that,  any  even- 
ing at  nine,  we  should  have  a  cup  of  tea  at  which 
we  should  rejoice  always  to  welcome  our  friends. 
The  practice  continued  for  many  years,  and  when  I 
came  to  this  country,  it  was  a  great  social  loss  to  me. 
I  tried  to  reestablish  it  here,  but  in  vain.  Circum- 
stances had  all  changed.  It  was  for  years  the  happi- 
est hour  of  the  day.  At  ten  we  retired.  I  spent  an 
hour  at  my  correspondence,  and  at  eleven  or  half-past 
I  was  ready  for  sleep. 

My  health  was  good,  with  the  exception  of  a  sick 
headache  about  once  a  month,  which  was  awful. 
Then  always  blue  pill  followed  by  castor  oil !  Ugh  ! 
For  twenty  years  I  have  hardly  had  an  attack  of  that 
kind.     Wife  has  taken  that  part  of  life  all  to  herself. 

As  I  have  said,  the  great  house  into  which  we  had 
entered  needed  many  repairs,  and  the  money  was 
short.  I  labored  a  great  deal  with  my  hands  in  all 
sorts  of  things.  I  do  not  think  it  was  the  best  use 
of  time.  I  often  felt  it,  and  felt  unhappy  about  it, 
but  there  seemed  to  be  a  necessity  to  which  I  yielded 
with  all  my  might.  I  was  to  remain  in  this  great 
house,  with  the  exception  of  the  unhappy  Clark  epi- 
sode, till  i860.  Then  I  went  into  the  Robert  College 
enterprise,   the    seminary   having   been    removed   to 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  249 

Marsovan.  The  abandoned  house  became  the  cradle 
of  Robert  College,  1863-71. 

How  shall  I  consider  this  portion  of  my  life,  contain- 
ing all  my  deepest  experiences  and  hardest  labors  ? 
I  cannot  go  on  chronologically  in  the  form  of  a  diary. 
It  would  be  wearisome  to  myself  and  to  you.  You 
want  to  know  what  I  have  done,  suffered,  and  enjoyed, 
and  what  I  have  attempted  to  do,  with  failures  and 
successes.  I  shall  therefore  freely  delineate  certain 
lines  of  labor  in  education,  and  in  many  side  issues 
into  which  I  was  drawn  by  force  of  circumstances. 

In  this  new  building  there  was  space,  with  certain 
repairs  and  changes,  to  have  by  our  estimate  forty- 
two  students  boarders,  with  separate  rooms  for  the 
family.  It  was  a  noble  building  —  its  framework  of 
massive  oak,  its  rooms  large  and  airy,  and  its  spa- 
cious halls  capable  of  excellent  uses  by  division 
walls.  The  number  filled  up  faster  than  we  intended 
or  wished,  but  the  course  of  study  was  reduced  to 
system ;  the  attainment  of  the  English  language  was 
made  prominent  ;  there  was  a  thorough  course  in 
mathematics,  physics,  chemistry,  natural  and  moral 
philosophy.  (Ethics  and  psychology  were  not  in  so 
common  use  as  now).  Bible  study  was  a  daily  exer- 
cise. History  and  geography  were  seized  hold  of 
with  earnestness. 

An  able  and  accomplished  professor  of  the  Arme- 


250  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

nian  language  and  literature  was  always  employed. 
One's  native  language,  his  mother  tongue,  must  be 
his  chief  instrument  of  thought  and  expression. 
Our  course  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  cultivation 
of  the  Armenian  language.  We  found  it  clay  and 
iron,  and  we  left  it  gold.  I  only  claim  that  the 
seminary  at  Bebek  had  a  part  and  an  honorable  part 
in  the  renaissance  of  the  language.  The  entire  in- 
fluence of  the  mission  went  in  that  direction. 

Our  students  were  generally  poor.  They  were  not 
from  the  poorest  families,  but  from  those  who  had 
adopted  openly  evangelical  principles  to  the  great 
injury  of  their  worldly  affairs.  Some  were  young 
men  of  eighteen  to  twenty,  who  had  themselves 
renounced  the  follies  and  idolatries  of  their  church, 
and  were  cast  out  by  their  own  relatives.  They 
were  polite  and  deferential.  These  qualities  are  nat- 
ural to  the  Oriental.  But  they  all  needed  training, 
discipline,  instruction,  and  the  development  of  a 
good  conscience  before  God  and  before  man.  Very 
few  of  them  had  personal  religion.  They  had  thrown 
off  many  errors,  they  had  not  ''put  on  Christ." 
There  were  a  few  admirable  young  Christians  of 
eighteen  or  twenty  to  twenty-one  in  the  community, 
but  they  were  all  married.  That  love  of  early  mar- 
riage was  almost  unbroken,  and  it  deprived  us  of  the 
best  students  we  should  have  had. 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  25  I 

From  the  first  we  took  what  came.  Indeed,  there 
was  no  alternative.  But  some  of  those  hopeless  cases 
were  converted,  and  they  have  led  noble  Christian 
lives,  so  that  our  work  has  not  been  in  vain  in  the 
Lord.  Some  of  the  most  useful  and  devoted  pastors 
have  come  into  service  in  this  way ;  but  many  proved 
unfit  for  direct  missionary  work,  and  some  became 
enemies  to  the  cross.     All  this  was  to  be  expected. 

The  first  student  who  entered  was  a  motherless 
youth  whose  father  was  going  into  the  interior, 
whence  he  never  returned.  The  boy,  Toros,  was 
not  lacking  in  intelligence,  but  he  developed  no 
characteristics  that  promised  usefulness  in  mission- 
ary work.  As  a  direct  missionary  investment  he 
was  a  failure.  Such  losses  have  to  be  encountered 
in  every  Christian  work.  And  yet  he  was  by  no 
means  wholly  a  loss.  I  found  a  place  for  him  as 
a  dragoman  to  Mr.  John  Hague,  a  distinguished 
English  engineer  in  the  Sultan's  employ.  Mrs. 
Hague,  an  earnest  Christian  woman,  did  much  to 
shape  his  course.  He  finally  became  chief  drago- 
man  in  the  naval  arsenal,  had  the  title,  rations,  pay, 
and  uniform  of  a  colonel,  married  into  a  respectable 
Armenian  family,  was  always  an  earnest  advocate  of 
education,  and  was  a  respectable  and  useful  man. 
I  am  glad  to  give  his  photograph  as  the  first  student 
that  entered  the  Bebek  Seminary. 


25: 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 


Besides  the  work  of  teaching,  lecturing,  and 
preaching,  I  had  considerable  work  to  do  with  the 
pen.  Not  long  after  the  seminary  was  opened,  the 
Jesuits,  with  less  of  sagacity  than  they  usually  dis- 
play, began  to  attack  us  with  the  pen.  They  pub- 
lished a  series  of  tracts  accusing  the  Protestants 
and  their  religion  of  everything  base  and  criminal. 
For  months  we  took  no  notice  of  them,  but  I 
became  convinced  that  they  were  making  a  bad 
impression,  and  the  station  approved  of  my  proposal 
to  write  a  book,  "  Papists  and  Protestants."  One 
object  was  to  exhibit  Romanism  as  viewed  by  dis- 
tinguished Romanists,  and  to  make  small  use  of 
Protestant  testimony.  I  had  Sarpi's  History  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  Pascal's  Provincial  Letters,  the 
writings  of  Michelet,  and  many  others,  including 
a  history  of  the  Jesuit  expulsions  from  Europe  and 
the  real  questions  of  the  Reformation.  The  place 
which  the  Scriptures  held  in  our  evangelical  system 
of  faith  was  clearly  stated  and  the  chief  doctrines  of 
salvation.  The  history  of  the  introduction  of  the 
doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  was  ventilated,  and 
many  other  errors  of  the  Romish  Church.  The 
Jesuits  did  not  reply  to  it.  They  saw  their  error  in 
provoking  public  discussion. 

The  book  was  printed  at  the  press  of  M.  de 
Castro.     Being   a    Jew   and   a   foreigner,   he    cared 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  253 

nothing  for  the  Jesuits.  They  attempted  to  incite 
the  Turkish  government  to  forbid  its  publication, 
but  a  word  from  Sir  Stratford  Canning  set  the  matter 
right.  Non-Protestant  Armenians  read  the  book 
with  avidity  to  find  arguments  against  the  papal 
missionaries.  "  Henderson  of  Park,"  the  Glasgow 
millionaire  and  Christian  philanthropist,  had  it  pub- 
lished in  Armeno-Turkish,  and  it  was  read  with  equal 
interest  in  that  language. 

An  Armenian  banker  whom  I  met  incidentally  on 
board  a  steamboat  said  that  our  missionary  publica- 
tions had  armed  them  against  the  Catholic  mission- 
aries, who  had  begun  to  make  a  great  impression. 
He  was  not  a  Protestant,  but  he  would  say  that  we 
had  saved  the  nation  from  Rome.  I  have  heard  this 
confession  very  often  made.  I  wrote  also  a  number 
of  tracts,  the  longest  on  "  The  Mediatorship  of 
Christ."  I  wrote  besides  a  pretty  severe  criticism  on 
a  book  by  Archbishop  Matteos,  *'  Catholicos  of  Etch- 
miadzin."  The  translated  title  would  be:  "The 
good  man  and  the  good  Christian."  It  was  a  weak, 
windy  thing,  full  of  contradictions,  anachronisms, 
misstatements,  heresies,  libels,  and  I  did  not  spare 
him.  His  own  people  did  not  reverence  him  greatly, 
and  they  laughed  at  the  predicaments  I  thrust  him 
into.  I  showed  him  up  as  a  heretic  to  his  own  church. 
It  broke  entirely  the  hurtful  influence  of  his  book. 


254 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


I  gave  much  time  to  the  translation  of  text-books 
for  Armenian  schools.  Baron  Ghazaros  was  my 
right-hand  man.  As  there  was  no  work  on  mental 
philosophy,  I  proposed  the  translation  of  Upham.  I 
considered  it  the  best  to  begin  with.  President 
Porter,  of  Yale,  when  I  asked  him  what  work  he 
would  advise  for  a  beginning,  replied  at  once  : 
"  Upham."  I  had  carried  Baron  Ghazaros,  one  of 
my  favorite  scholars,  through  the  book  as  a  study» 
When  we  began  the  translation,  he  read  a  portion 
into  Armenian  for  me,  that  any  doubtful  point  might 
be  made  plain.  Then  he  wrote  out  the  translation 
and  read  it  to  me  carefully,  sentence  by  sentence,  I 
holding  the  original  and  insisting  upon  clear  state- 
ments. We  kept  a  list  of  such  terms  as  were 
doubtful  or  had  not  yet  a  philosophical  meaning.  All 
proposed  changes  were  noted,  and  so  the  work  went 
through  its  first  stage.  Then  a  clear  copy  was  made 
and  the  whole  carefully  examined  a  second  time. 
The  labor  was  great,  but  an  excellent  text-book  on 
a  science  new  to  the  Armenian  mind  and  one  of 
unspeakable  value  was  obtained.  In  later  years 
Baron  Ghazaros  revised  it,  and  added  Upham  on  the 
Will.     It  is  published  as  his  translation. 

Another  text-book  was  Wayland's  Moral  Philoso- 
phy. A  third  was  an  arithmetic,  mental  and  written, 
accommodated  to   Turkish    coins   and   weights   and 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


255 


measures.  This  was  published  in  Armenian  and 
Armeno-Turkish.  Murekelam,  a  persecuted  Protest- 
ant, cut  the  plates  for  illustrations  on  boxwood.  I 
paid  him  well,  but  could  have  made  better  myself; 
the  cuts  were  rude  things. 

But  the  arithmetic  went  beyond  missionary  schools. 
I  presented  a  copy  of  the  Armeno-Turkish  to  Ahmet 
Vefyk  Effendi  when  he  was  minister  of  public  in- 
struction. He  seemed  greatly  interested,  and  said  it 
was  just  what  the  Turkish  schools  needed,  and  he 
would  get  hold  of  the  Armenian  character,  and 
transfer  the  book  to  the  Turkish  character.  He 
afterward  told  me  he  had  ten  thousand  copies  struck 
off  in  the  government  press  and  sent  to  the  miLciirs 
of  a  province,  with  orders  to  put  them  in  the  schools 
and  collect  the  price  (5  ps.  I  think),  and  return  it  so 
that  another  ten  thousand  could  be  sent  out. 

All  the  missionary  translations  are  made  in  this 
way.  The  assistant  translator,  chosen  for  his  master- 
ship of  a  clear  idiomatic  style,  gives  the  form ;  the 
missionary  watches  over  the  exact  meaning.  When 
the  two  differ,  the  point  is  noted,  and  laid  aside  for  a 
future  and  thorough  consideration. 

I  look  back  upon  what  I  did  through  the  press  as 
of  some  permanent  value  in  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  changes  then  taking  place. 

On  entering  the  great  house  of  Cheleby  Yorgaki, 


256  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

1843,  the  number  of  students  increased,  and  an  evil 
which  had  all  along  troubled  me  became  intolerable. 
It  was  the  proper  clothing  of  the  students.  A  few 
of  them  could  clothe  themselves  and  were  no  trouble. 
The  greater  part  were  dependent  upon  charity.  The 
principle  established  by  the  mission  was  to  charge 
^100  a  year  for  board  and  tuition,  for  ten  months, 
to  those  who  were  able  to  pay.  We  had  a  few  of 
this  class  who  came  a  few  terms,  to  get  hold  of  the 
English  language.  They  were  an  incidental  part  of 
our  work,  but  they  were  channels  for  the  truth  to 
enter  many  households. 

At  least  three  fourths  of  the  students  were  shab- 
bily dressed.  They  were  either  from  poor  families, 
or  they  were  outcasts  from  well-to-do  families  by 
persecution.  The  great  anathema  burst  upon  the 
evangelicals  in  1846,  but  the  preceding  six  or  seven 
years  were  years  of  a  great  deal  of  active  persecu- 
tion. In  many  instances  young  men  of  eighteen  to 
twenty-one  abandoned  everything  in  order  to  get 
an  education  in  our  seminary.  They  were  at  least 
patriotic,  and  they  fervently  desired  to  do  something 
for  the  emancipation  of  their  people. 

There  was  no  regular  system  in  the  clothing  de- 
partment, for  every  one  must  look  out  for  himself. 
Some  were  quite  successful,  others  were  quite  con- 
tented and  studious  in  rags.     An  excellent  English 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


257 


traveler  left  ten  pounds  (fifty  dollars)  to  relieve  the 
most  necessitous.  Never  was  a  gift  so  blest.  It 
seemed  to  reclothe  the  whole  school,  for  by  leveling 
up  the  worst  cases  the  whole  became  respectable. 

At  another  time  a  poor  fellow  had  a  very  unwise  gift 
of  twenty-five  dollars.  He  immediately  blossomed 
out  as  the  dude  of  the  seminary.  Some  laughed  at 
him  ;  others,  I  suppose,  envied  him.  As  the  sources 
of  supply  were  various  and  accidental,  partly  in 
money,  partly  in  clothing,  more  or  less  useful,  I 
could  not  equalize  the  thing  so  as  to  make  all 
contented.  I  did  favor  the  industrious  and  earnest 
students,  openly  and  upon  principle,  but  this  was 
regarded  as  favoritism  rather  than  the  just  reward 
of  labor  performed. 

I  had  done  something  on  a  small  scale  to  give 
students  and  other  necessitous  persons,  made  so  by 
persecution  and  boycotting,  industrial  employment, 
and  with  success.  I  finally  came  to  the  resolu- 
tion to  establish,  if  I  could  get  the  needed  money,  a 
workshop  for  the  students,  in  which  every  one  should 
be  able  to  earn  enough  to  clothe  himself  decently, 
and  I  would  allow  no  more  aid  to  be  given  through 
me,  and  I  would  announce  the  fact  as  widely  as  possi- 
ble. The  mission  could  not  be  called  on  for  the 
money  to  organize  the  workshop,  but  I  obtained  con- 
tributions to  the  amount  of  forty  pounds  from  the 


258 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


English  mechanics  and  engineers  who  were  in  gov- 
ernment employ  at  Macri  Keuy. 

I  had  very  pleasant  relations  with  that  body  of 
men ;  and  the  government  scheme  which  brought 
them  to  Constantinople  was  so  grand  and  so  futile,  so 
impossible,  and  yet  so  desirable,  so  lavish  of  money 
and  engineering  talent,  and  yet  so  barren  of  results, 
that  it  is  worth  sketching.  It  maybe  taken  as  a 
good  example  of  the  many  frantic  efforts  made  by 
the  Turkish  government  to  introduce  the  industries 
and  manufacturing  establishments  of  Europe. 

The  plan  was  to  have  a  great  woolen  mill  estab- 
lished at  Nicomediaart,  a  cotton  mill  at  Macrige 
Keui,  west  of  Constantinople,  where  also  were  to  be 
great  machine  shops  for  manufacturing  everything 
that  is  made  of  wood  and  of  metal,  but  first  of 
all  for  making  steam  engines,  iron  steamers,  iron 
bridges,  etc.  One  great  English  head  engineer  and 
a  corps  of  master  v/orkmen  for  every  department 
were  brought  out  pell-mell  from   England. 

Had  success  been  possible  in  this  mad  scheme,  the 
chief  engineer,  Mr.  John  Hague,  of  Southampton, 
was  the  genius  to  secure  it.  He  was  a  man  of 
varied  attainments,  wide  experience,  of  great  inven- 
tive skill,  wonderful  in  resource,  exact  in  scientific 
knowledge,  in  chemistry  and  mineralogy  as  well  as  in 
mechanical  engineering.     He  had  made  and  lost  for^ 


BEBEK  SEMINARY, 


259 


tunes  in  great  undertakings,  but  like  many  men  of 
genius  he  cared  comparatively  little  for  money. 
He  would  have  had  nothing  but  for  the  excellent 
wife  who  took  care  for  him  and  who  had  administra- 
tive talent  of  a  high  order.  He  was  a  man  of  hum- 
ble piety,  of  genuine  modesty,  of  no  joretension,  and 
of  sterling  integrity.  I  must  not  stop  to  sketch 
other  members  of  this  remarkable  body  of  English 
workmen. 

But  I  must  not  pass  over  the  Dadians  or  Baroutchi 
Bashis.  This  later  designation,  which  simply  means 
the  heads  of  the  powder  makers,  gives  us  their 
introduction  into  nearly  all  other  government  enter- 
prises. They  were  brothers  —  bold,  skillful,  daring, 
energetic  men,  whose  distinction  consisted  in  know- 
ing how  to  handle  men.  Every  man  has  his  price 
was  one  of  their  principles,  and  they  found  few  men 
whom  they  could  not  bend  to  their  purpose.  They 
knew  how  to  make  themselves  necessary  to  the 
Turkish  government.  If  anything  were  to  be  done 
in  haste,  they  were  the  men  who  could  command  the 
means  for  accomplishing  the  work. 

The  elder  brother,  Hohannes,  was  a  man  of  dig- 
nified bearing,  of  pleasing  address.  Boghos,  the 
younger,  was  a  rollicking,  jovial  fellow,  but  of  un- 
fathomable craft.  They  had  already  acquired  vast 
wealth,  although  they  had  salaries  ridiculously  small. 


26o  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Not  many  months  after  my  arrival  in  Turkey,  I  dined 
at  the  house  of  Boghos  with  our  minister,  Com- 
modore Porter.  The  manners  of  our  host  were  free 
but  gross ;  his  display  of  luxury  surprised  me. 

These  were  the  two  men  under  whom  Mr.  Hague 
was  to  carry  forward  the  gigantic  enterprise.  He 
saw  at  once  that  his  post  would  be  untenable.  He 
told  me  that  the  place  chosen  for  the  cotton  mill, 
print  works,  and  great  machine  shops,  would  insure 
the  failure  of  the  enterprise.  He  could  not  conceive 
it  possible  that  the  leading  object  of  these  two 
Armenian  chiefs,  and  of  all  the  pashas  and  Turks 
connected  with  them,  was  to  plunder  the  government 
of  millions.  Mr.  Hague  made  himself  obnoxious  to 
the  Dadians  by  his  attempts  to  shield  the  govern- 
ment from  outrageous  robbery.  Finally,  after  three 
or  four  years,  they  got  rid  of  him,  although  he  had 
an  excellent  contract,  and  the  government  had  to 
sweat  for  breaking  it.  I  may  mention  further  on 
my  last  interview  with  the  Hagues  in  Southampton. 

About  two  hundred  of  these  mechanics,  some  of 
them  with  their  wives,  were  domiciled  at  Macri  Keuy 
and  neighborhood,  wherever  they  could  find  a  place. 
I  used  to  go  down  to  Macri  Keuy  about  once  a  month 
to  preach  to  those  who  would  assemble  at  Mr. 
Hague's  house.  Intemperance  was  making  havoc  of 
some  of  the  men  because   they  had    great    wages, 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  26 1 

cheap  raki,  and  nothing  to  do.  Their  departments 
were  not  y«et  ready  for  them.  It  was  said  that  dur- 
ing the  first  two  years  thirteen  died  of  dehrium 
tremens.  I  preached  teetotahsm  to  them  in  vain. 
They  would  not  sign  away  their  Hberty.  In  despair 
I  resolved  to  try  the  naked  Word  of  God.  I  collected 
and  wrote  out  all  the  passages  of  Scripture  I  could 
find  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  bearing  on 
temperance  and  intemperance.  This  took  effect. 
We  formed  a  society,  and  it  saved  at  least  some 
from  a  drunkard's  grave. 

I  was  in  England  in  1856,  some  eight  years  or 
more  after  the  last  of  these  workmen  had  returned. 
At  the  close  of  a  public  meeting  in  Bristol,  a  gentle- 
man came  forward  and  saluted  me  very  warmly,  and 
said  :  "  I  was  the  engraver  of  those  copper  cylinders 
that  you  examined  with  so  much  interest  at  Maori 
Keuy.  You  had  a  hard  field  among  us  Englishmen, 
but  I  want  to  have  you  know  that  your  teachings  led 
me  to  a  Christian  life.  I  am  now  a  member  of  a 
Wesleyan  church." 

It  was  at  the  same  time  and  place  that  I  met  the 
daughter  of  Captain  Crathorn,  and  received  her 
testimony  already  noticed. 

One  of  my  Sunday  visits  to  Maori  Keuy  has  left 
the  memory  of  some  hours  of  great  distress  to 
myself  and  family.     It  was  a  hot  day,  and   I   deter- 


262  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

mined  to  start  for  home  as  late  as  possible,  to  avoid 
the  excessive  heat.  I  had  a  two-hour  ride  on  the 
horse,  and  then  a  boat  row  on  the  Bosphorus  of  one 
and  one  half  hours  from  the  Golden  Horn.  I  looked 
at  my  watch  when  I  thought  it  must  be  time  to 
start,  but  it  said  three  o'clock.  I  made  myself  easy 
for  two  hours  more,  but  it  had  been  well  had  I 
started  then.  It  was  already  half  an  hour  past  the 
time.  When  I  found  the  mistake,  I  started  in  great 
consternation.  I  had  a  most  miserable  horse,  that 
preferred  any  amount  of  beating  I  could  give  him  to 
moving  out  of  his  own  gait. 

I  arrived  at  the  boating  place  where  my  caique 
was  to  wait  long  after  dark.  The  caiqueji  had  con- 
cluded that  I  was  staying  all  night,  and,  a  northern 
breeze  springing  up  which  would  make  his  passage 
up  the  Bosphorus  laborious,  he  wisely  hastened  for 
home.  When  I  arrived  it  was  blowing  a  ofale.  I 
could  neither  find  him,  nor  would  any  other  boatman 
put  out  under  such  circumstances.  I  crossed  to 
Tophana  with  great  difficulty.  Nothing  could  be 
found  there,  and  I  made  for  home,  on  foot,  five  or  six 
miles  over  cobblestone  pavements  in  the  dark.  But 
I  had  to  have  a  lantern,  or  the  first  guardhouse  would 
arrest  me  and  keep  me  till  morning.  Luckily  I 
obtained  a  lantern  and  a  piece  of  candle  in  a  coffee 
shop  at  Tophana,   but  one  glass  was  entirely  gone 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  263 

and  another  in  part.  The  light  was  blown  out 
before  I  had  gone  a  hundred  steps.  When  I  came 
to  a  guardhouse,  I  marched  straight  up  to  it  and 
lighted  my  lantern.  I  did  so  at  every  guardhouse — 
Dolma-Bagtchi,  Beshektash,  Koroucheshme,  Ar- 
naoutkeuy,  and  Bebek.  The  plan  succeeded  per- 
fectly. I  had  a  lantern  ;  they  could  not  deny  that ; 
but  all  the  good  it  did  me  was  to  keep  me  from 
arrest.  In  that  raging  wind  I  could  not  keep  it  from 
speedy  extinction.  Well,  I  reached  home  about 
midnight.  Henrietta  and  Susie  were  on  the  sofa 
where  they  had  cried  themselves  to  sleep.  I  found 
afterwards  that  their  dear  mother  had  wept  with 
them.  Students  had  been  out  all  the  evening,  all 
along  the  Bosphorus,  and  could  get  no  news  of  me 
or  of  my  caiqueji.  He  had  put  in  somewhere  to 
wait  for  the  morning.  The  inference  was  that  I 
was  lost. 

How  many  such  anxieties  did  we  pass  through 
into  light  and  boundless  joy  and  gratitude  to  God  ! 

Of  all  those  vast  works  which  cost  the  government 
about  five  million  pounds,  only  the  woolen  mill  at  Nic- 
omedia  and  the  print  works  at  Maori  Keuy  survived. 
The  vast  machine  shops  brought  forth  the  engines  for 
an  iron  steamer,  and  a  few  other  things  were  made 
and  then  the  works  were  closed.  Had  they  been 
located  at  the  naval  arsenal,  where  Mr.  Hague  insisted 


264  ^^  ^^^^   ^^^'^    TIMES, 

they  should  be,  much  of  the  vast  expenditure  would 
have  gone  into  work.     Retoiirnons  a  nos  moutons. 

When  I  placed  before  these  English  workmen  my 
plan  for  an  industrial  annex  to  the  seminary,  which 
should  enable  and  compel  the  students  to  clothe 
themselves,  they  were  interested  in  the  plan.  The 
sum  I  asked  —  forty  pounds — they  thought  very  rea- 
sonable, and  they  made  it  up  among  themselves.  I 
think  Mr.  Hague  gave  five  pounds,  and  others  gave 
one  or  two  pounds,  ten  shillings,  five  shillings,  and 
so  on.  Having  this  sum,  I  ordered  what  tools  I 
needed,  and  I  proceeded  to  fix  up  a  workshop  in  the 
basement  of  our  great  house,  where  there  was  an 
admirable  opportunity  for  such  a  shop.  The  stu- 
dents all  knew  for  what  I  was  preparing,  and  were 
very  ready  to  fall  in  with  the  plan. 

Our  first  work  was  upon  sheet  iron  stoves  and 
stovepipe,  articles  coming  into  use,  and  during  the 
three  months  of  November,  December,  and  January, 
in  very  brisk  demand.  The  use  of  stovepipe  was 
enormous,  owing  to  the  fact  that  at  that  date 
(1844),  there  were  no  chimneys  to  the  houses, 
except  to  the  kitchens,  which  were  always  as  far  in 
the  rear  as  possible.  I  worked  with  the  boys  an 
hour  every  morning,  another  at  noon,  and  often 
another  at  night.  The  enterprise  was  a  gratifying 
success    from    the    beginning.     Besides    stovepipes 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  265 

and  sheetiron  stoves,  there  were  ash  pans,  bakers, 
fire  shovels,  and  various  other  household  things  in 
tin  and  iron,  which  the  boys  with  a  little  instruction 
could  easily  make.  Some  of  them  became  in  a  short 
time  more  skillful  than  their  teacher,  for  I  had  no 
special  knowledge  or  skill  in  these  crafts. 

Some  gratifying  results  followed  from  this  indus- 
trial enterprise.  The  students  were  all  completely 
and  neatly  clothed,  and  as  the  result  of  their  own 
labor  ;  and  as  there  was  nothing  but  that  labor  to 
look  to  in  the  future,  they  expended  their  money 
carefully  and  to  the  best  advantage. 

There  was  more  of  order  and  of  devotion  to  study 
than  ever  before.  I  became  fully  convinced  that 
two  or  three  hours'  work  every  day,  leaving  Saturday 
afternoon  free  for  recreation,  was  promotive  of  stu- 
dious habits,  of  good  morals,  and  manly  character. 
This  industry  went  on  very  successfully  for  a  few 
years,  but  it  was  an  innovation,  and  like  all  innova- 
tions, whether  good  or  bad,  had  to  meet  with  oppo- 
sition. It  was  objected  by  some  that  it  would 
secularize  the  minds  of  the  students,  and  that  the 
getting  hold  of  these  industries  would  divert  them 
to  a  worldly  life.  I  was  on  the  contrary  fully  con- 
vinced that  a  certain  degree  of  industrial  education 
is  desirable  in  all  schools  of  learning.  The  opportu- 
nity  for    training   in    certain    industries     should,    if 


266  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

possible,  be  given.  Extend  a  good  laboratory  but  a 
little,  and  you  may  have  a  small  foundry,  black- 
smithing,  and  carpentry.  Is  there  not  true  knowl- 
edge gained,  as  well  as  skill,  in  these  simple  and 
useful  processes  }  When  I  have  succeeded  in  do- 
ing some  entirely  new  thing,  I  have  been  as  much 
delighted  with  the  knowledge  I  had  gained  as  with 
the  success  of  the  work. 

I  had  one  very  skillful  student,  whose  remarkable 
course  I  will  here  give.  It  will  answer  a  number  of 
questions  that  have  occasionally  been  asked  me  as 
to  capacity  and  the  elevation  and  purity  of  Chris- 
tian character  among  evangelical  Christians  of  the 
Orient. 

His  name  was  Zenope.  The  circumstances  of  his 
early  life  were  not  favorable  to  the  character  which 
he  formed.  His  mother  died  a  year  or  two  before 
he  came  to  the  seminary.  His  father,  of  repute  as  a 
teacher  and  a  really  interesting  man,  was  a  victim  to 
intemperance.  He  brought  Zenope  to  the  school 
to  save  him.  His  address  to  the  boy  and  to  me  on 
taking  leave  was  tearful  and  pathetic.  He  went  to 
some  place  in  the  interior  and  died  there.  The  son 
could  never  refer  to  him  without  tears.  Zenope  was 
a  quiet,  studious,  and  amiable  youth,  making  regular 
progress  but  giving  no  signs  of  anything  remarkable.  \ 
I  think  he  had  been  about  two  years  in  the  seminary 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  267 

before  he  began  to  take  hold  of  divine  truth  as  a 
matter  of  deep  personal  interest.  He  then  seemed 
to  be  taught  of  the  Spirit.  He  began  the  systematic 
study  of  the  Bible.  He  gave  an  hour  to  it  every 
morning.  He  made  diligent  use  of  my  Cruden's  Con- 
cordance. He  was  intent  upon  comparing  Scripture 
with  Scripture,  and  seeing  every  proof  text  in  its 
own  setting.  He  became  a  disciple  —  a  disciple  of 
Christ  as  his  Lord  and  Master,  to  whom  he  conse- 
crated his  life  and  all  his  powers  as  a  reasonable 
service. 

It  was  the  study  of  chemistry  that  brought  out 
the  first  signs  of  genius.  He  was  excited  by  seeing 
what  wondrous  powers  lay  hidden  quiescent  in 
nature.  The  experiments  interested  him  intensely. 
He  studied  them.  He  tried  them  over  again  and 
always  discovered  something  new.  Whatever  money 
he  earned  he  spent  in  chemicals.  He  had  his  own 
way  of  silvering  and  gilding,  by  which  he  earned 
something  for  further  use.  He  came  to  me  one  day, 
and  asked  if  I  could  tell  him  a  mixture  for  Ramazan 
torpedoes  (pebbles  covered  with  an  explosive  mix- 
ture). Every  Turkish  boy  in  the  month  of  Ramazan 
has  his  pocket  full.  He  hurls  them  along  the  cobble- 
stone pavement,  and  they  go  cracking  along  at  every 
impact.  I  asked  him  what  he  wanted  to  do.  He 
replied :    ''  The    poor    carpenter    Carabet    wants    to. 


268  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

return  to  his  village  on  the  Euphrates.  He  has  not 
money  enough  for  his  expenses.  If  I  knew  that 
mixture,  I  could  find  beautiful  pebbles,  and  now,  as 
Ramazan  is  near,  he  could  sell  them  easily." 

I  told  him  there  must  be  phosphorus,  chlorate  of 
p6tassa,  etc.,  but  I  would  advise  him  not  to  play  with 
explosives ;  if  he  did,  he  must  do  it  only  in  the  fire- 
proof laboratory.  The  next  day  I  saw  his  fingers 
bound  up  ;  he  had  suffered  from  an  explosion.  About 
three  days  after,  I  saw  the  poor  carpenter  with  a 
zembil  of  torpedoes,  as  many  as  he  could  carry.  I 
tried  one  ;  it  was  excellent.  In  a  short  time  he  sold 
enough  to  carry  him  to  the  Euphrates. 

I  felt  sure  that  God  meant  Zenope  to  be  a  manufac- 
turing chemist.  The  Jesuits  had  an  establishment 
at  St.  Benoit  on  Galata,  which  furnished  a  very  large 
amount  of  drugs  to  the  empire.  If  the  Protestant 
Armenians  could  get  hold  of  that  industry,  it  would 
bring  them  great  relief.  I  wrote  to  Sir  Austen 
Henry  Layard,  then  in  England,  and  always  a  friend 
to  our  educational  efforts,  telling  him  of  Zenope,  and 
asking  him,  if  possible,  to  find  him  a  place.  In  due 
time  he  wrote  me  that  he  had  found  a  most  excellent 
chance  for  him  with  a  large  manufacturer  of  drugs,  a 
very  good  and  wealthy  Wesleyan  Methodist,  who  at 
once  took  an  interest  in  the  case  and  said  :  ''  If  the 
young  man  is  as  Dr.  Hamlin  represents  him,  he  shall 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  269 

have  every  chance  I  can  give  him.  If  he  proves 
worthy,  we  '11  see  if  we  can't  have  a  plant  in  Con- 
stantinople that  shall  surpass  the  Jesuits."  "Your 
student  may  think  himself  fortunate,"  added  Mr. 
Layard,  "for  a  thousand  pounds  would  not  open  such 
a  career  to  the  son  of  an  Englishman." 

I  thought,  with  deep  and  joyful  emotion,  that 
surely  here  is  a  career  of  usefulness,  influence, 
wealth,  and  honor  opened  to  this  youth,  singularly 
adapted  to  his  genius  and  character.  I  had  not 
hinted  to  him  my  project  until  it  was  complete.  I 
called  him  to  my  study,  and  laid  it  all  before  him. 
I  was  confounded,  disappointed,  and  struck  with  ad- 
miration at  the  result.  He  was  affected  even  to 
tears. 

He  said  :  "  You  are  my  father,  but  I  cannot  accept 
it.  When  I  knew  Christ  as  my  Saviour,  I  made  a 
covenant  with  him  that  if  he  would  help  me  through, 
I  would  devote  my  life  as  a  teacher  to  my  poor 
countrymen,  the  Armenians." 

I  reasoned  with  him  that  a  covenant  could  be 
broken  in  the  letter  and  kept  in  the  spirit,  and  I 
thought  he  would  do  far  more  for  his  country  in  this 
career  than  in  any  other. 

He  thanked  me  warmly  but  said  :  "  My  life  is  fixed; 
I  cannot  change." 

I  exhorted  him  to  think  it  all  over,  to  pray  over  it, 


270 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


to  ask  divine  guidance,  and  I  would  drop  the  subject 
for  the  present  and  see  him  again. 

There  was  an  absorbed  and  anxious  look  to  his 
countenance  in  that  intermediate  time.  I  saw  there 
was  a  struggle  within.  But  when  I  called  him  for 
another  talk,  I  found  him  unshaken.  He  recognized 
the  splendor  of  the  opportunity,  but  he  had  sworn 
unto  the  Lord,  and  he  would  not  go  back.  I  have 
met  with  no  rarer  instance  of  Christian  firmness  and 
self-denial.  He  went  to  Aintab  as  a  teacher  on  a 
very  small  salary.  He  lived  but  six  or  seven  years. 
His  name  and  influence  still  live  in  all  that  region. 
He  prepared  the  way  for  Aintab  College.  "  When 
He  maketh  up  his  jewels"  Zenope  will  not  be  left 
out.  He  surely  was  neither  corrupted  nor  secularized 
by  the  industries  of  the  seminary.  I  have  an  atmos- 
pheric pressure  coffeepot  made  by  him,  which  I 
keep  sacred,  as  also  my  Cruden,  well  worn  by  him. 
Thou  wilt  hail  my  coming,  Zenope,  should  I  reach 
the  banks  of  the  River  of  Life. 

I  have  already  mentioned  the  fact  that  most  of  our 
students  were  poor.  They  were,  however,  intelli- 
gent youth ;  the  breath  of  a  new  era  had  breathed 
upon  them,  and  they  were  determined  at  all  costs  to 
obtain  the  education  that  would  prepare  them  for  it. 
Some  made  great  sacrifices  to  attain  that  end,  but  for 
courage  and   invincible  perseverance  I   have  known 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


271 


of  no  one  to  exceed  Stepan  and  Simon.  The  two 
were  from  the  same  region,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
or  so  their  parents  sent  them  to  the  convent  of 
Moosh,  to  be  pokravores  of  the  abbot,  and  finally 
priests,  or  vartabeds,  Pokravore  means  little  fel- 
low, inferior,  underling.  Every  head  of  a  convent  is 
in  duty  bound  to  have  theological  students  in  train- 
ing for  the  ministry.  This  good  system  has  so 
degenerated  that  these  students  now  become  pokra- 
vores, and  are  chiefly  servants  of  the  abbot. 

Stepan  and  Simon  were  quiet  boys,  accustomed  to 
strict  obedience,  but  they  were  not  satisfied  with  their 
teaching.  Plenty  of  chanting  to  do  in  the  chapel, 
which  they  liked,  and  of  waiting  upon  the  abbot,  or 
vartabed,  which  they  did  not  like.  If  they  did  not 
suit  him  he  called  them  eshek  (jackass).  They  had 
been  about  two  years  in  the  convent,  and  they  some- 
times said  to  one  another :  "  What  sort  of  priests  are 
we  going  to  be .?  "  At  that  time  they  heard,  from  a 
merchant  who  had  visited  the  great  capital,  that  a 
school  had  been  established  by  some  learned  and  pious 
foreigners  for  teaching  the  theology  of  the  Bible. 

"  Halloo  !  "  they  said;  "  here  is  what  we  want  ;  let 
us  go  and  find  it."  And  off  they  went,  some  com- 
mending their  pious  resolve  and  some  denouncing. 
They  must  travel  some  two  or  three  hundred  miles 
on  foot,  begging  their  way,  and  sleeping   wherever 


272  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

they  could  find  a  refuge.  The  people  of  the  East, 
Christians  and  Mohammedans,  are  hospitable ;  the 
boys  would  not  suffer,  except  in  a  rain  storm  among 
the  mountains,  which  may  God  avert !  Arrived  at 
Trebizond,  there  was  the  Black  Sea  to  cross,  say 
five  hundred  miles.  A  great  crowd  of  Armenians 
are  always  going  by  the  great  English  and  Austrian 
steamers,  the  only  ones  then  known,  and  the  Lord 
gave  them  grace  in  the  eyes  of  their  countrymen, 
who  took  up  a  contribution   and  paid   their  fare. 

Landing  at  Constantinople,  they  went,  in  their 
honest  simplicity,  direct  to  the  Armenian  Patriarch, 
and,  kneeling  before  him  and  kissing  the  hem  of  his 
garment,  told  him  briefly  from  whence  they  came 
and  for  what   purpose. 

"My  beloved  sons,"  he  replied,  "you  have  accom- 
plished a  wonderful  journey,  and  it  shall  be  remem- 
bered in  the  great  day  for  the  pardon  of  your  sins  ; 
but  that  school  I  examined  and  found  nothing  good 
in  it  but  the  name,  so  I  closed  it,  and  sent  the  hypo- 
critical heretics  home  to  their  own  country.  But 
you  shall  not  lose  your  reward.  I  am  just  sending 
a  very  learned  and  pious  vartabed  to  your  convent ; 
you  will  return  with  him,  and  he  will  teach  you  all 
things.  You  will  have  three  days  to  rest,  and  my 
servants  will  care  for  you,  and  the  vartabed  will  pay 
all  your  expenses  back." 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  273 

Bitterly  disappointed,  but  full  of  admiration  and 
gratitude  at  this  most  gracious  reception,  they 
enjoyed  such  refined  hospitalities  as  they  had  never 
seen  before,  and  in  three  days  set  out  on  their 
return. 

The  evening  before  reaching  the  convent,  the 
vartabed  coolly  said  to  them,  "  His  holiness  told 
you  a  great  lie  about  that  school.  The  day  before 
we  left  I  spent  the  afternoon  with  Mr.  Hamlin  at 
Bebek,  and  we  discussed  many  subjects.  But  the 
Patriarch  made  me  responsible  for  bringing  you 
back,  and   I   could    not   tell  you  a  word." 

For  two  or  three  months  they  were  satisfied  with 
their  new  vartabed,  and  then  everything  fell  back 
into  the  old  currents,  and  they  became  more  discon- 
tented than  ever. ' 

One  day  Simon  came  in  and  said  :  "  I  have  found 
what  we  shall  do.  There  is  an  Armenian  convent 
at  Jerusalem,  or  near  it,  where  they  are  holy  and 
learned  and  studious.     Up  !  let  us  go  to  Jerusalem." 

"Jerusalem!"  said  Stepan.  "Is  it  not  four  hun- 
dred hours  distant  t  Could  we  get  there  in  two 
months  }  Where  can  we  get  money  }  What  savage 
regions  shall  we  pass  through  }  No  ;  our  ill-starred 
journey  to  Stamboul  is  more  than  enough  for  me." 

Both  remained  firm  in  their  decision,  as  Armenians 
are  just  as  apt  to  do  as  Americans. 


274 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


With  a  sublimity  of  faith,  or  ignorance,  Simon 
started  off  alone.  Pilgrims  had  gone  that  way,  and 
he  would  go.  He  had  a  list  of  the  chief  stations 
and  the  Armenian  churches,  and  besides,  Koords  and 
Moslems  and  Yezidees  are  kind  to  the  poor,  and  he 
had  nothing  to  fear.  In  this  he  was  right.  His 
utter  poverty  was  a  better  protection  than  a  hundred 
armed  men.  But  he  must  trudge  through  Mesopo- 
tamia, Asia  Minor,  cross  the  Taurus  Mountains,  and 
down  through  Syria  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  he  must 
encounter  storm,  malaria,  epidemics,  and  possibly 
wild  beasts.  But  in  his  invincible  purpose  to  search 
out  the  school  where  he  could  study  the  theology  of 
the  Bible,  he  saw  no  "  lion  in  the  way."  Let  us 
leave  for  the  present  this  poor,  humble,  ignorant, 
solitary  boy  of  eighteen,  in  the  heroic  pursuit  of  his 
ideal,  the  theology  of  the  Bible,  across  the  wilds 
of  Asia. 

Stepan  remained  sad  and  solitary  in  the  convent 
of  Moosh.  He  found  no  companion  to  take  the 
place  of  Simon.  As  the  weeks  passed  away  he 
became  more  discontented,  and  wished  heartily  that 
he  had  gone  with  Simon.  Winter  was  over,  and  no 
news  from  Simon  ;  he  had  no  doubt  died  from 
malaria,  cholera,  plague,  wild  beasts,  or  wilder  men, 
and  Stepan  resolved  to  start  the  second  time  for 
Constantinople  and  to  go  directly  to  Bebek,  without 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


275 


listening  to  any  more  "  lies  "  of  his  holiness,  the 
Patriarch.  This  he  accomplished,  with  much  expos- 
ure and  fatigue,  and  as  before,  so  now,  he  found 
friends  to  help  him  along.  He  came  this  time  direct 
to  Bebek,  a  sorry-looking,  wayworn  youth.  He 
introduced  himself  and  stated  his  purpose,  in  simple, 
direct  terms,  with  that  natural  ease  which  belongs  to 
all  Oriental  youth.  I  always  admired  it,  but  it  is 
not  easy  to  explain  it.  He  was,  of  course,  received 
as  a  student  on  trial. 

But  what  of  poor  Simon  on  his  long,  absurd,  im- 
possible journey  to  Jerusalem  }  He  lived  to  attain 
his  object,  very  much  worn  out  by  the  fatigues  of 
the  way.  He  was  kindly  received,  and  the  convent 
was  proud  of  being  sought  from  such  a  distant  place 
and  at  such  cost.  But  when  the  brotherhood  came 
to  understand  that  nothing  but  "  the  theology  of  the 
Bible "  would  satisfy  him,  they  expelled  him  as 
a  heretic.  He  fled  to  Bishop  Gobat,  Anglican  bishop 
to  the  Jews,  and  told  his  story. 

The  good  bishop  said  to  him  :  "  Well,  well !  you 
have  taken  a  roundabout  way,  but  you  are  evidently 
to  go  to  Bebek.  I  will  help  you  so  far  as  to  pay 
your  passage  and  give  you  a  line  of  introduction  to 
Mr.  Hamlin." 

One  stormy  day  —  the  whole  scene  lives  in  my 
memory  —  I  was  watching  some   athletic    sports    of 


276  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

the  students  under  cover  along  the  side  of  our  court, 
when  the  gate  opened,  and  a  poor  fellow,  dripping 
with  the  rain,  in  the  costume  of  the  distant  interior, 
entered  with  a  porter  bearing  his  bed  (a  rug)  and 
clothing.  I  was  accustomed  to  receiving  very  poor 
students,  but  this  one  looked  too  forlorn  ;  when  sud- 
denly Stepan  darted  from  under  cover  and  clasped 
him  in  his  arms.  Neither  had  a  thought  of  ever 
seeing  the  other.  All  in  the  pouring  rain,  they  kissed 
each  other  upon  both  shoulders,  and  then  sought 
refuge  to  know  each  other's  history.  Through  what 
toils,  journeyings,  sufferings,  dangers,  with  what 
courage,  perseverance,  patience,  and  trust  had  they 
sought  that  one  object  !  They  have  been  and  are 
faithful  pastors  of  churches. 

The  skill  and  industry  of  the  boys  became  too 
interesting  and  attracted  too  much  attention.  The 
Turks  considered  me  specially  Satanic,  because,  as 
has  been  stated,  all  skill  and  invention,  according  to 
their  theology,  or  demonology,  come  from  Satan. 
Then,  too,  my  Christian  brethren  feared  that  I  was 
secularizing  the  missionary  work.  It  was  not  liked 
at  the  Missionary  House.  My  brother  Hannibal, 
then  residing  in  Boston,  heard  so  many  unfriendly 
criticisms,  that  he  wrote  to  me,  begging  me  to  make 
a  defense  of  my  course  which  should  be  published. 

I  wrote  to  him  a  full  explanation  of  my  plan,  but 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  277 

refused  to  have  anything  published,  because  I  felt 
sure  it  would  vindicate  itself  in  good  results.  If  it 
should  not,  no  defense  would  be  of  any  use.  Every 
new  course  must  be  tested,  opposed,  subjected  to 
many  ordeals,  that  that  which  cannot  be  shaken 
may  abide.  I  appealed  to  the  future  against  the 
present. 

He  sent  my  letter  to  our  common  friend.  Rev.  Dr. 
E.  A.  Lawrence,  and  the  following  is  an  extract  from 
his  reply  :  — 

It  is  a  noble  defense  of  your  noble  brother's  course.  And 
being  written  in  the  freedom  he  could  not  well  use  to  any  but  a 
brother,  it  discloses  the  true  Christian  heroism  of  his  missionary 
life.  The  results  of  his  plans  will  cut  pretty  severely  some  who 
may  have  laughed  or  half  grieved  at  what  they  esteemed  his  folly. 
Men  who  can  do  one  thing  at  a  time,  though  they  may  do  it 
well,  should  be  careful  not  to  hinder  in  his  work  another  who  can 
do  two  equally  well.  No  man  at  this  age,  in  my  view,  is  labor- 
ing more  successfully  to  lay  deep  foundations  in  the  missionary 
field  than  your  dear  brother.  I  admire  his  freshness  and 
faith,  and  I  love  his  Christlike  spirit  of  self-forgetfulness  and 
humility.  The  facts  ought  to  be  known,  and  what  ought  to  be 
done  must  be  done.  .    .  . 

So  I  had  it  on  both  sides,  honest  and  severe 
criticism,  and  warm,  brotherly  defense ;  but  I 
adhered  to  my  purpose  to  say  nothing,  unless  some 
formidable   public   attack   should   be    made.     I   was 


278  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

doing,  in  a  poor  feeble  way,  and  in  only  a  few  cases, 
what  our  Saviour  did  for  the  lame,  the  halt,  the 
blind.  I  had  the  lame  and  the  blind,  and  I  resolved 
to  help  them  in  the  best  way  I  could  and  to  tke 
extent  of  my  ability,  fearing  naught. 

I  knew  that  some  of  my  associates  were  not 
pleased  with  that  workshop.  I  was  too  busy,  perhaps, 
to  have  any  time  to  guard  myself  against  misrepre- 
sentations. I  knew  that  Dr.  Van  Lennep  manifested 
a  spirit  of  very  determined  opposition  to  all  indus- 
trial work  in  the  seminary,  as  just  so  much  ab- 
stracted from  learning  and  piety  ;  but  I  did  not 
suppose  he  could  have  the  influence  which  facts 
proved  that  he  actually  did  have.  Dr.  Anderson 
expressed  fears  to  Dr.  Dwight  with  regard  to  the 
Bebek  workshop,  and  perhaps  Dr.  Dwight  had 
expressed  them  to  Dr.  Anderson.  I  maintained  that 
Dr.  Anderson,  being  so  far  away,  was  not  in  a 
position  to  judge.  If  I  were  to  live  my  life  over 
again,  I  would  be  more  cautious  about  underestimat- 
ing **the  opposition."  I  have  too  often  let  it  go 
on  until  a  conflict  was  inevitable. 

But,  knowing  all  this,  I  was  surprised  at  receiving 
a  note  from  Dr.  Dwight,  communicating  a  vote  of 
the  station  that  I  close  the  seminary  workshop,  sell 
off  the  material  and  the  tools,  and  pay  the  result 
into   the   treasury.     I    did   not   attend    the    station 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


279 


meetings  one  half  the  time.  I  was  six  miles  distant, 
and  my  going  sacrificed  the  best  part  of  a  day. 
Besides,  my  work  was  simpler,  clearer,  and  demanded 
the  most  constant  attention.  A  seminary  is  a  ship 
among  rocks  and  shoals  and  reefs,  and  the  captain 
must  keep  his  hand  on  the  helm.  I  always  had  a 
feeling  of  uneasiness  when  absent  a  single  day. 

I  considered  the  vote  unjustifiable,  but  the  ma- 
jority rules,  and  I  resolved  upon  immediate  compli- 
ance. The  students  were  astounded  and  perplexed 
enough  when  they  saw  me  dismantling  the  shop. 
They  sympathized  with  my  little  daughter  Carrie,  one 
of  whose  bright  sayings  was  that  she  "loved  the  mis- 
sionaries, but  hated  the  station."  I  told  them  to  be 
patient.  It  would  be  two  or  three  weeks  before  I 
could  settle  all  accounts  and  have  a  careful  inventory 
made  out  for  the  sale.  In  the  meantime  what  had 
been  voted  down  might  be  voted  up. 

I  then  wrote  a  note  to  the  station,  saying  that  I 
was  surprised  at  their  decision,  but  that  I  had  im- 
mediately begun  my  preparations  for  the  sale.  There 
would  be  no  difficulty  there.  I  should  undoubtedly 
get  from  twenty  to  thirty  per  cent,  advance  upon  cost, 
for  I  had  imported  tools  and  materials  to  great 
advantage,  and  what  I  had  could  not  be  found  in  the 
market.  But  as  for  paying  the  results  into  the 
treasury,  I  must  conscientiously  decline.     The  Board 


28o  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

had  never  been  called  upon  for  a  penny,  and  I  must 
consult  such  of  the  donors  as  I  could  find,  before 
deciding  what  to  do  with  the  money.  But  one  thing, 
I  said,  must  now  be  taken  in  hand  by  the  station.  I 
have  forty-two  students.  Five  or  six  of  them  can 
provide  their  own  clothing  without  aid.  The  rest 
are  all  more  or  less  dependent,  half  of  them,  I  should 
say,  absolutely  so.  I  never  could  administer  to  their 
wants  satisfactorily.  ''You  know  well,"  I  said,  "that 
it  was  a  ragged  school,  and  you  sometimes  have 
directed  my  attention  to  that  fact,  as  though  I 
did  not  see  it  every  day.  That  noble  English 
*■  Friend '  who  left  me  ten  pounds  enabled  me  to 
level  up  the  worst  cases,  and  never  did  fifty  dollars 
produce  so  much  respectability.  But  that  wore  out 
in  time  to  rags  again,  and,  worst  of  all,  some  of  the 
students  felt  injured  because  this  one  had  more,  that 
one  less.  I  cannot  attend  to  this  clothing  affair 
without  injuring  my  moral  position.  Do  not  expect 
of  me  the  impossible.  I  give  that  department  en- 
tirely into  your  hands." 

I  believe  the  note  was  read,  and  absolute  silence 
followed,  until  Dr.  Goodell,  who  could  never  fail  of 
seeing  a  humorous  side,  if  there  were  one,  burst  into 
a  laugh,  and  moved  that  Brother  Hamlin  take  his 
own  way  to  keep  out  rags. 

So   the  thing   passed   away.     Just   how    much  of 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  28  I 

the  influence  had  come  from  Dr.  Anderson  I  never 
knew.  He  was  an  extremely  cautious  man,  and 
extremely  influential. 

My  next  rebuff  was  from  a  very  dear  and  honored 
friend  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  Mr.  Arthur  Stoddard. 
He  was  a  most  excellent,  earnest,  honest  man,  a  man 
of  cultivated  mind  and  of  great  and  successful  enter- 
prise, a  brother  of  the  Ooroomiah  missionary  and 
of  all  the  Stoddards  of  that  day  from  the  old  North- 
ampton cradle.     They  were  a  noble  race. 

Mr.  Stoddard  wrote  me  what  I  thought  a  sharp 
letter  about  my  secular  occupations.  Let  the  shoe- 
maker stick  to  his  last,  and  let  the  missionary  stick 
to  his  spiritual  work,  etc. 

I  immediately  took  my  pen,  with  some  warmth,  to 
reply,  and  I  told  Mr.  Stoddard  at  the  outset  that  he 
could  not  see  from  Glasgow  to  Constantinople,  and 
that  the  only  apology  for  his  letter  was  his  absolute 
ignorance  of  my  work.  So  soon  as  I  had  despatched 
the  letter  and  it  was  beyond  recall,  I  said  :  "  What  a 
fool  I  have  been  !  Why  could  I  not  have  waited  a 
few  days,  and  then  have  written  him  a  perfectly  kind 
letter  of  explanation  of  my  course }  Now  he  will 
give  me  in  reply  a  scorching,  and  so  it  will  go." 

I  received  an  immediate  reply,  confessing  that  he 
had  misjudged  the  case  entirely  —  he  had  full  sym- 
pathy with  my  objects  and  modes  of  work  —  and  as 


282  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

words  were  cheap,  he  enclosed  a  check  for  a  hundred 
pounds  (five  hundred  dollars)  to  aid  me  in  my  "  truly 
Christian  enterprise."  It  proved  the  true  nobility 
of  his  nature.  We  were  friends  to  life's  last  hour, 
and  among  his  last  earthly  deeds  was  the  sending  me 
a  check  for  a  thousand  dollars,  to  lighten  the  burden 
of  age.  I  had  made  some  encouraging  efforts  to 
extend  the  industries  so  successful  in  the  seminary 
to  others  in  want,  but  the  persecution  of  1846 
opened  a  large  field  for  labor  in  this  direction. 

The  Patriarch  of  the  Armenian  Church  was  clothed 
with  supreme  spiritual  power  over  all  his  flock,  by 
virtue  of  the  Imperial  Constitution,  given  by  Mehmet 
the  Conqueror,  soon  after  the  taking  of  Constanti- 
nople in  1453.  Having  under  him  a  large  Christian 
population,  firmly  adherent  to  their  faith,  Mehmet 
wisely  resolved  to  govern  them  mainly  through 
their  spiritual  chiefs.  He  first  established  the  Greek 
patriarchate,  and  allowed  their  bishops  to  present  a 
candidate  for  the  office  whom  he  approved,  and 
invested  with  the  robes  of  office  with  his  own  hand. 
At  a  later  date  the  Armenian  patriarchate  was  es- 
tablished in  the  same  way.  This  office,  while  it  did 
not  change  the  ecclesiastical  grade  of  the  irtcumbent, 
conferred  great  civil  power  over  his  flock.  For  any 
spiritual  offense  he  could  fine,  imprison,  or  send  into 
exile.     In  the  latter  case,  the  decree  of  exile  had  to 


BEBEK  SEMINARY. 


285. 


bear  the  seal  of  the  Turkish  government,  but  was 
very  rarely  questioned.  As  spiritual  offense  was  any- 
thing opposed  to  the  will  of  the  clergy,  the  power 
conferred  was  immense  and  dangerous. 

It  was  impossible,  therefore,  for  any  Armenian  to 
leave  his  church.  Nor  was  it  possible  for  any  church 
to  be  formed,  by  missionary  or  other  foreign  influ- 
ence, out  of  the  Armenian  Church.  The  attempt  to 
do  it  would  be  a  crime  against  the  constituted  reli- 
gious organization  of  the  empire.  The  Catholic 
Armenian  church  had  been  formed  in  consequence 
of  political  commotions,  which  I  cannot  here  stop  to 
narrate.^  The  result  of  those  commotions  should 
have  taught  the  Armenian  Patriarch  the  fatal  reac- 
tive power  of  a  general  anathema. 

But  the  truth  was  spreading.  Many  anti-evangel- 
ical ceremonies  of  the  church  were  being  abandoned, 
as  the  worship  of  the  pictures  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
and  of  the  saints,  auricular  confession,  absolution, 
masses  for  the  dead,  and  many  other  similar  cere- 
monies. 

Moreover,  the  people  had  begun  to  be  restive 
under  the  rule  of  the  bankers  and  the  ecclesiastical 
primates.  A  very  excited  contest  had  arisen,  in 
which  the  people  had  gained  certain  rights,  which 
had    been  seized  by  this  ruling  party.     This  demo- 

*  See  Smith  and  Dwight's  Researches,  vol.  i,  ch.  i. 


284  ^^  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

cratic  spirit  of  freedom  was  extravagantly  attributed 
to  the  influence  of  the  missionaries,  who  had  nothing 
directly  to  do  with  it.  But,  above  all,  Russia  pressed 
the  Catholicos  ^  of  Etchmiadzin  to  stop  the  progress 
of  this  heresy,  and  clear  the  empire  of  it.  The 
decisive  influence  came  from  St.  Petersburg  through 
Etchmiadzin. 

It  was  finally  decided  to  utter,  with  all  pomp  and 
ceremony,  the  great  anathema,  subjecting  all  who 
would  not  yield  absolute  obedience  to  the  demands 
of  the  church  to  all  the  penalties,  civil  and  spiritual, 
which  the  great  anathema  then  involved.  These 
were  numerous  and  sweeping.  It  released  all  Arme- 
nian debtors  from  obligation  to  pay  to  them  their 
debts.  It  forbade  all  Armenians  to  have  any  inter- 
course with  the  anathematized.  It  took  away  from 
every  one  his  guild  paper,  and  closed  his  shop  or 
store  or  place  of  business,  whatever  it  might  be. 
It  ejected  every  man  from  his  house,  if  owned  by  an 
Armenian,  and  from  the  Armenian  quarter  where  he 
was  residing.  This  involved  families  and  individuals 
in  utter  financial  ruin. 

A  persecution  fund  was  readily  obtained,  and  their 
immediate  wants  were  supplied.  If,  through  foreign 
interference,  the  trader  or  the  dry-goods  dealer  or 
the  furrier  was  able  to  open  a  shop,  he  was  boycotted 

■*  Catholicos  is  an  ecclesiastial  title  in  the  Armenian  church.     It  is  the  highest  title 
in  that  church. 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  285 

SO  completely  that  trade,  and  industrial  employments 
even,  became  impossible. 

The  Protestant  Church  was  thus  launched  upon 
a  stormy  sea.  The  design  of  the  czar  to  crush 
Protestantism  and  utterly  destroy  it  by  the  great 
anathema  was  the  occasion  of  its  establishment  as 
one  of  the  legal  and  protected  religions  of  the 
empire.  His  serenity  could  not  have  been  promoted 
by  knowing  the  fact  that  this  subversion  of  his 
favorite  plan  of  excluding  Protestantism  from  Turkey 
had  been  caused  by  that  Englishman  whom,  above 
all  others,  he  feared  and  hated  —  Sir  Stratford  Can- 
ning. Canning  had  once  been  appointed  English 
embassador  to  St.  Petersburg  and  Nicholas  refused 
to  receive  him,  giving  no  reason  but  his  imperial 
will.  England  immediately  gave  the  Russian  em- 
bassador in  London  his  passports,  and  diplomatic 
intercourse  for  a  time  was  reduced  to  consular  agen- 
cies. Canning  opposed  and  thwarted  the  plans  of 
Nicholas  in  Turkey  with  supreme  skill  and  power. 

Popular  persecution  continued  for  years  after 
formal  freedom  had  been  secured.  The  lowest 
classes  often  exhibited  the  intensest  hatred  to  the 
new  sect.  Its  members  stood  the  many  wrongs  and 
persecutions  with  wonderful  firmness  and  Christian 
fortitude  and  patience,  and  they  increased  in  num- 
bers.    Churches    sprang    up    wherever    there    was 


286  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

faithful  missionary  labor.  In  some  places  there  was 
great  suffering,  in  others  comparative  freedom  from 
violence  and  wrong.  But,  all  along,  the  truth  has 
gained  against  the  united  opposition  of  the  great 
maj-ority  of  the  people,  and  now  (in  1893)  there  are 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  Protestant  churches  in 
all  the  empire,  including  Egypt  and  European  Tur- 
key. The  work  has  proved  to  have  the  divine  leaven 
that  diffuses  itself  —  it  is  the  grain  of  mustard  seed 
becoming  a  tree. 

I  look  back  with  great  interest  to  the  first  Protest- 
ant burial  from  the  membership  of  the  much-hated 
and  persecuted  church.  The  deceased  was  a  Mr. 
Oscan,  by  far  the  oldest  member  at  the  formation. 
I  had  always  admired  his  venerable  and  dignified 
person.  His  tall  form,  his  fine  countenance,  and  his 
white  beard  and  hair,  would  attract  every  eye  in  any 
assembly.  I  suppose  him  to  have  been  eighty  or 
past,  when  he  made  his  public  confession  of  the  faith 
he  had  long  cherished.  He  was  then  in  failing 
health.  He  had  lost  property  and  position  among 
his  people,  but  he  poured  forth  his  expressions  of 
joy  and  gratitude  that  he  had  lived  to  see  the  first 
evangelical  church  among  the  Armenians,  and  he 
looked  forward  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel  through 
the  empire.     This  was  his  death    song.     In   a  few 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  287 

weeks  he  began  to  fail,  and  he  departed  in  peace 
and  hope. 

The  event  was  waited  for  by  the  persecutors. 
The  roughs  boasted  that  his  body  should  never  be 
buried ;  they  would  seize  it  when  carried  out  to 
burial,  tie  a  rope  to  the  feet,  and  drag  it  through  the 
streets  of  the  city.  It  was  an  occasion  of  great 
anxiety  and  alarm.  We  apprehended  that  a  mob  of 
thousands  might  assemble.  All  the  male  members 
of  the  church  and  many  evangelicals,  not  members, 
to  the  number  of  between  one  and  two  hundred, 
assembled  both  to  honor  the  dead  and  guard  his 
remains.  Our  minister  resident,  Mr.  Carr,  sent  the 
dragoman  to  the  chief  of  police  and  governor  of  that 
side  of  the  Bosphorus,  to  inform  him  of  the  threats  of 
the  mob  to  seize  the  body  and  drag  it  through  the 
streets.  He  listened  with  Mussulman  gravity  and 
simply  replied :  "  InshallaJi  botiile  Mr  shay  etmei 
jeckler''  (If  it  please  God,  they  will  do  no  such  thing). 

This  was  quite  satisfactory,  and  he  sent  sixteen, 
cavasses  to  guard  the  procession.  Our  minister  and 
his  aids  were  out  on  horseback  with  considerable 
display.  The  procession  moved  silently  through  the 
Grand  Rue  of  Pera,  attracting  great  attention. 
The  brethren  bore  the  casket,  the  pastor  walked  in 
front  carrying  a  large  Bible,  the  missionaries  were 
with    the   rear   of    the  column,   mixed   in   with    the 


288  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

brethren.  The  street  was  lined  with  a  curious 
crowd  on  both  sides,  and  one  could  hear  various 
remarks  in  various  languages,  such  as  :  "  This  is  the 
new  sect  of  Armenians."  "  No  crosses,  no  candles, 
na  chants."  "Sixteen  cavasses  !  By  Gemini!  the 
government  is  going  to  protect  them  anyhow  !  "  ''lis 
sont  des  braves  hommes!'  said  a  Frenchman,  meaning : 
"  They  are  a  very  decent-looking  set,"  etc. 

The  point  of  anxiety  was  reached  when  we  passed 
the  Taxim  into  the  open,  and  there  would  be  nearly 
half  a  mile  of  exposure  to  the  mob.  There  was  no 
mob  there.  Evidently  the  police  had  dispersed  them 
or  prevented  their  assembling.  They  were  really 
collected  in  the  gorge  on  our  left,  out  of  sight. 

As  we  approached  the  grave,  we  saw  a  multitude 
surrounding  it,  but  there  were  three  or  four  bodies 
of  the  Turkish  troops  going  through  with  their  daily 
drill.  They  were  on  every  side  of  the  grave.  Dr. 
Dwight  remarked  :  ''  This  noise  of  fife  and  drums 
iwill  prevent  our  funeral  service  from  being  heard, 
but  we  had  better  have  noise  and  safety  than  the 
assault  of  a  mob."  The  body  was  placed  by  the 
grave,  and  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Absalom  Hachadou- 
rian,  stood  upon  the  bank  of  earth  to  begin  his  serv- 
ice, and  instantly  the  music  ceased.  The  multitude 
believed  that  this  new  sect  was  infidel ;  that  they 
were  disciples  of   Voltaire.     As    they   had    rejected 


BEBEK  SEMINARY,  289 

the  ceremonies  of  their  old  religion,  it  was  said  they 
had  no  religion. 

The  pastor  saw  his  opportunity  not  only  with  the 
multitude  but  with  those  Turkish  soldiers,  and  he 
broke  forth  in  Turkish  with  a  powerful  voice  :  "  We 
evangelical  Armenians  believe  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  and  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  — 
they  that  have  done  good  unto  the  resurrection  of 
life,  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the  resurrec- 
tion of  condemnation."  Continuing,  he  uttered  a 
brief  confession  of  faith,  read  some  passages  from 
the  Bible  with  brief  remarks,  the  soldiers  evidently 
giving  profound  attention.  A  prayer  was  offered, 
the  casket  placed  in  the  grave,  the  grave  rapidly  filled 
up,  the  earth  smoothed  over  and  sprinkled  with 
water,  the  pastor  lifted  up  his  hands  and  pronounced 
the  benediction,  and  instantly  the  military  music 
burst  forth  on  every  side.  It  was  as  profoundly  im- 
pressive as  though  the  angel  of  the  Lord  had  come 
down  on  guard.  Were  the  troops  accidentally  there  .? 
Or  was  it  so  planned  as  to  seem  accidental  and  yet 
most  effectively  overawe  the  mob  t  "  If  it  please 
God,  they  will  do  no  such  thing." 

We  formed  the  procession  again,  and  were  return- 
ing to  the  city  full  of  gratitude  and  admiration,  when 
suddenly  there  burst  up  from  that  gorge,  as  from  the 
bottomless  pit,  a  howling  mob  of  roughs  to  the  num- 


290  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

ber  of  many  hundreds,  —  some  considered  them  a 
thousand,  —  hurling  stones  and  brickbats  with  such 
insane  fury  that  they  all  went  over  our  heads.  The 
sixteen  cavasses  formed  in  line,  with  naked  scimeters, 
and  prevented  the  mob  from  rushing  on  us.  They 
skirted  along  for  some  distance,  and  the  stones  fell 
thick  among  us.  **  Keep  far  apart,  brethren,"  said 
Dr.  Dwight  ;  ''give  open  spaces  for  the  stones  ;  don't 
run,  take  long  steps  ;  in  three  or  four  minutes  we  '11 
reach  the  Taxim." 

Dr.  Dwight  was  hit  a  glancing  blow  on  the  left 
shoulder ;  one  brother  was  knocked  down,  but  they 
picked  him  up  and  marched  him  right  along,  and 
some^few  others,  four  or  five  perhaps,  were  hit,  but 
no  one  was  seriously  injured.  When  I  think  of  the 
stones  I  saw  hurling  through  the  air,  our  escape 
seems  wonderful.  I  think  that  nine  tenths  of  the 
stones' went  over  us,  and  nine  tenths  of  the  other 
tenth  fell  in  the  open  spaces.  We  reached  the 
Taxim,  where  we  entered  again  the  Grand  Rue  of 
Pera.  Our  sixteen  cavasses  formed  in  our  rear  and 
stopped  the  mob.  The  brethren  quietly  dispersed 
to  their  homes,  and  our  venerated  and  beloved 
brother  Oscan  slept  in  peace. 

There  was  one  way  of  relief  to  the  persecuted 
and  boycotted  evangelical  Armenians.     At  that  date 


Rev.  H.  G.  O.  Dwight,  d.d 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  29  I 

foreigners  enjoyed  peculiar  privileges  in  establishing 
business  of  their  own  outside  the  guilds,  and  they 
could  employ  whomsoever  they  pleased,  being  answer- 
able to  the  government  for  their  employes.  The 
success  of  our  workshop  enabled  me  to  give  various 
employments  to  the  most  necessitous  of  men  with 
families,  who  had  not  been  able  to  obtain  any  work. 
I  established  one  man  in  the  manufacture  of  cam- 
phene  as  a  burning  fluid,  in  which  he  was  very  suc- 
cessful. Others  were  employed  in  setting  up  the 
stoves  and  using  the  stove  pipe  manufactured  by  our 
students.  This  was  a  very  profitable  employment 
during  the  months  of  November,  December,  and 
January.  The  impression  of  honesty  as  belonging 
peculiarly  to  these  evangelicals  was  made  apparent 
by  the  following  incident :  — 

One  of  these  Protestant  artisans,  who  had  set  up 
a  number  of  stoves  in  the  great  konak  of  a  Turkish 
effendi,  near  Bebek,  came  to  me  and  said  the  steward 
of  the  effendi  would  pay  him  only  half  his  bill.  I 
examined  the  bill,  and  found  it  in  every  respect  cor- 
rect, the  prices  being  in  all  cases  such  as  had  been 
established  among  us,  and  were  to  be  adhered  to.  I 
advised  him  to  return,  and  tell  the  kapogee  (door- 
keeper) that  he  had  business  with  the  effendi,  and 
not  to  call  the  steward. 

He  did  so,  and  stated  his  case  to  the  effendi.  who 


292    .  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

called  the  steward  and  told  him  to  pay  the  bill  in 
full,  and  in  future,  if  he  had  any  business  with  these 
Protestants,  not  to  question  the  correctness  of  their 
accounts.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  these  Protestants  do 
not  overcharge  and  cheat  like  other  men,  but  they 
are  just,  and  speak  the  truth!" 

The  steward  accordingly  paid  the  bill ;  and  gen- 
erally our  men  found  the  Turks  remarkably  ready 
to  trust  their  word ;  often  saying,  "  We  know  you 
are  honest,  and  therefore  we  do  not  question  your 
accounts."  They  often  added  :  "  You  do  not  wor- 
ship pictures  like  the  rest." 

Here  was  a  point  of  sympathy  between  the  Prot- 
estants and  the  Turks  which  often  secured  to  them 
protection  and  other  important  favors. 

The  experience  of  the  years  1843-48  convinced 
me  that  something  more  should  and  could  be  done 
to  get  the  unemployed  Protestants  into  active  labor 
for  their  own  support.  Nothing  demoralizes  a  Chris- 
tian man  sooner  than  idleness.  It  is  true,  in  the 
case  of  these  Protestants,  it  was  enforced  idleness. 
They  were  willing  to  work ;  but  all  work  was  organ- 
ized, and  they  were  outside  of  the  organization. 
The  case  of  Hovesep  the  cutler  will  illustrate  the 
state  of  things  at  that  time. 

He  was  an  industrious  and  skillful  man,  who  had 
a  mother  and  two  sisters  to  support,  and  he  said  to 


BEBEK  SEMINARY, 


293 


them  :  "  Let  us  die  rather  than  become  beggars  and 
live  on  charity." 

He  became  partially  insane.  He  fancied  he  was 
changed  to  stone,  and  would  not  speak  or  even  wink 
for  hours.  I  went  to  him  and  I  said :  "  Baron  Hove- 
sep,  I  have  work  for  you  at  Bebek.  Will  you  come 
to-morrow  morning  }  I  will  give  you  twelve  piastres 
a  day."  He  was  internally  glad,  but  then,  he  was 
stone,  and  it  would  be  highly  improper  for  stone  to 
speak.  At  length  with  slow  and  stony  accents  he 
replied  :  '*No  money  for  passage."  So  I  paid  him  a 
day's  wages  in  advance,  doubting  if  he  would  come. 

He  came,  however,  and  in  a  few  days  became 
cheerful  and  well.  His  mental  balance  was  fully 
restored.  I  furnished  him  employment  for  two  or 
three  months,  and  found  him  a  faithful,  intelligent 
Christian  man,  whose  face  it  was  always  pleasant 
to  see  in  the  street  or  elsewhere.  A  few  months 
passed ;  he  had  expended  all  his  gains,  had  found 
no  work,  and  was  becoming  mentally  unhinged  again. 

I  sent  for  him  and  showed  him  an  American  rat 
trap  of  simple  construction,  and  said  to  him  :  "  If 
there  are  thirteen  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  in 
Constantinople,  there  are  thirteen  hundred  millions 
of  rats.     Go  to  !  make  rat  traps,  and  live." 

He  rejected  the  idea  as  impracticable;  but  he 
consented  to  work  with  me  that  Saturday  afternoon. 


294 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


as  I  had  no  seminary  duties,  and  with  some  difficulty 
we  made  a  first-rate  rat  trap. 

"  Now,"  I  said,  "  Baron  Hovesep,  go  call  Hohannes 
the  carpenter,  who  is  out  of  work  like  yourself. 
Let  him  make  the  woodwork  and  put  them  together, 
and  you  prepare  the  other  parts." 

"Yes,"  said  he,  somewhat  scornfully;  "you  and 
I,  Reverend,  have  made  one  trap  in  a  whole  after- 
noon. If  I  could  make  one  alone  in  a  day,  it  would 
bring  me  only  eight  piastres  (thirty-two  cents)  ;  then 
I  shall  lose  time  in  selling,  and  I  must  pay  for  the 
material.  I  could  make,  perhaps,  four  piastres  a  day 
clear.  We  are  four  persons,  four  cents  a  day  to  each 
one!     No;   we   had   better   die,  and    done  with  it." 

I  showed  him  where  his  reasoning  was  wrong.  I 
would  advance  him  the  capital  for  one  hundred 
traps ;  then  he  should  begin  upon  one  piece,  make 
that  right  off  for  the  one  hundred  traps,  as  fast  as 
possible,  and  so  with  every  piece. 

He  and  Hohannes  reluctantly  made  the  trial,  and 
virere  surprised  at  the  result.  I  hired  an  excellent 
place  for  them  in  Galata.  They  gave  the  traps  to 
Jewish  boys  to  sell,  and  they  could  not  supply  the 
demand.  They  took  two  other  unemployed  men,  and 
finally  eight  persons  found  self-supporting  work  in 
the  rat-trap  factory.  There  was  no  part  of  the  city 
or  suburbs  where  I  would  not  meet  those  Jewish  boys 


BEBEK  SEMINARY.  295 

crying  up  those  "Boston  rat  traps."  The  industry 
answered  an  excellent  purpose.  It  cured  Hovesep 
and  saved  a  worthy  family  from  great  distress.  It 
helped  others  also,  and  tided  them  all  over  to  better 
days. 

Then  the  problem  opened  full  and  clear  to  my 
own  mind.  A  large  portion  of  the  poor  and  perse- 
cuted community  could  be  saved  from  poverty  and 
forced  idleness  only  by  securing  to  them  industries 
beyond  the  reach  of  their  enemies.  How  the  prob- 
lem was  solved  will  appear  as  we  proceed.  Various 
other  industries  were  established,  with  more  or  less 
success,  as  bookbinding,  printing,  and  an  association 
for  making  a  certain  kind  of  prints  for  women's 
headdresses  {faciolas)^  but  they  were  not  sufficient 
to  meet  the  case. 

In  discussing  with  one  of  the  native  brethren  the 
condition  of  the  community,  we  found  twelve  heads 
of  families  who  had  failed  in  every  effort  to  get 
employment  that  would  secure  a  living.  There 
were  some  others  without  families,  but  these  were 
first  to  be  considered.  We  discussed  every  industry 
we  could  think  of,  but  nothing  could  be  started  with- 
out capital,  and  we  had  nothing  but  naked  labor. 
Never  before  did  I  see  how  absolutely  necessary  are 
labor  and  capital  to  each  other,  and  what  a  blessing 
the  man  of  capital  may  be  to  the  unemployed. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   SEMINARY   AND    A   NEW   ENTERPRISE. 

/^NE  industry  had  often  attracted  my  attention, 
^^  that  of  changing  wheat  into  bread.  We  had 
a  population  of  one  million  three  hundred  thousand, 
a  splendid  wheat  market.  The  Danube,  South 
Russia,  and  the  Sea  of  Azof  poured  in  the  finest 
wheat  of  the  world.  But  here  in  this  capital  all  the 
grinding  was  done  by  horse  power.  It  was  popularly 
said  that  there  were  ten  thousand  horse  mills  and 
bakeries  in  the  city  and  neighborhood.  Could  I  get 
hold  of  the  industry  ?  The  method  must  be  simple. 
With  the  help  of  Ure's  Dictionary  of  the  Arts  I 
could  master  it  with  little  trouble.  A  Yankee's  faith 
in  himself  often  gets  him  into  trouble,  but  it  does  n't 
leave  him  there.  I  learned  by  sheer  accident  one 
very  interesting  fact :  that  Mehmet  the  Conqueror, 
when  he  took  Constantinople,  finding  the  great  city 
a  desolation,  very  wisely  published  some  Chapters  of 
Privileges,  to  induce  people  to  settle  at  the  capital. 
These  privileges  are  called  "  capitulations  "  —  a  very 
misleading  term,  taken  from  capita.  One  of  these 
privileges  was  that  "  every  foreign  colony  settling  at 


THE  SEMINARY.  297 

his  capital  should  have  the  right  to  its  own  mill  and 
bakery  free  from  interference  from  the  guilds." 

Now,  here  was  an  open  door,  if  I  only  had  the 
capital !  To  every  Armenian  under  anathema  who 
would  work  and  do  his  best  I  would  offer  employ- 
ment.    The  rest  might  starve. 

One  evening,  as  we  were  going  up  the  Bosphorus 
together,  I  mentioned  this  matter  to  my  friend  Mr. 
Charles  Ede,  an  English  banker.  He  said  the  plan 
was  excellent  but  impossible,  for  the  guild  of  bakers 
and  millers  was  the  strongest  guild  in  the  capital, 
and  ten  thousand  dollars  would  not  open  their  gate. 
I  told  him  of  the  "Privilege"  of  1453.  He  had 
little  confidence  in  that,  but  said  at  once :  "■  Get  your 
firman,  and  I  will  advance  all  the  money  you  want,  if 
you  will  secure  me  upon  the  plant.  A  steam  mill 
and  bakery  may  be  a  gold  mine." 

I  found  him  fully  in  earnest,  and,  to  my  surprise 
and  joy,  all  my  insuperable  difficulties  had  disap- 
peared. The  memory  of  that  hour  on  that  steamer's 
deck  is  imperishable. 

Then  I  had  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  station, 
and  act  with  their  approval.  But  not  one  of  the 
missionaries,  except  Schaufifler  and  Everett,  had  the 
slightest  confidence  in  it.  It  was  even  atrociously 
absurd,  as  they  viewed  it.  "  Do  you  know  milling, 
bread-making,  steam-enginery,  etc.  }  "  they  asked. 


298  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

I  had  to  reply  :  "  I  do  not." 

"  Do  any  of  the  Armenians  whom  you  will  employ 
know  anything  of  these  employments  ?  " 

"  Not  one,  so  far  as  I  know." 

"Well,  then,  this  thing  is  absurd.  You  will 
probably  sacrifice  your  health  in  a  desperate  and 
fruitless  effort.  You  will  become  involved  in  debt, 
and  injure  your  own  and  the  reputation  of  the 
mission." 

I  urged  the  condition  of  the  Protestant  community. 
More  than  five  years  had  passed  since  the  great 
anathema.  The  firman  of  freedom  had  been  issued 
and  repeated,  and  in  many  things  there  was  great 
improvement,  but  not  more  than  two  had  succeeded 
in  trade.  The  Protestant  Armenians  were  boycotted. 
We  had  the  thing  without  the  word,  and  we  had  to 
help  them  out  from  the  persecution  fund  every  few 
months,  or  they  would  go  under.  I  urged  :  "  We  mis- 
sionaries live  in  safety  and  comfort,  they  in  poverty, 
contempt,  and  danger.  I  am  going  to  do  more  than 
I  have  yet  done  to  help  them.  As  to  financial  em- 
barrassments, Mr.  Ede  assumes  all  the  risks,  and  as 
to  my  reputation,  let  me  fail  in  trying  to  do  some- 
thing rather  than  to  sit  still  and  do  nothing.  But  I 
shall  not  fail."  So  also  said  Dr.  Schauffler  and  Mr 
Everett. 

Finally   someone,   probably   Dr.    Dwight,    offered 


THE  SEMINARY. 


299 


this  motion  :  "  While  we  do  not  have  confidence  in 
the  measure,  we  leave  Brother  Hamlin  to  act  upon 
his  own  responsibility."  And  then  the  singular  pre- 
caution was  taken  to  make  no  record  of  either  vote  I 
They  probably  wished  to  avoid  all  complications  at 
the  Rooms.  The  records  of  the  station  may  be 
searched,  and  I  doubt  whether  any  intimation  of  my 
industrial  measures  for  the  relief  of  the  disabled 
Protestants  will  be  found.  The  Rooms  disapproved 
of  them,  and  so  did  most  of  the  missionaries. 
Mr.  Everett,  Dr.  Schauffler,  and  Dr.  E.  E.  Bliss  and 
Mr.  Powers  are  always  to  be  excepted.  I  cared  for 
nothing  more,  and  informed  Mr.  Ede  that  I  should 
call  upon  him  soon. 

"  Your  draft  will  be  honored  at  any  time,"  was 
his  ready  reply;  "but  let  me  see  your  firman  first." 
For  that  I  went  to  Hon.  George  P.  Marsh,  our  min- 
ister resident.  He  liked  the  plan  very  much  and 
said :  "  These  men  must  live  by  their  own  labor,  or 
your  work  can  never  expand.  And  to  give  them 
opportunity  to  labor  is  surely  a  Christian  work." 
But  he  doubted  the  possibility  of  getting  a  firman. 
He  would  look  into  it. 

In  a  short  time  he  became  convinced  that  the 
government  could  not  refuse  it,  and  I  gave  him  the 
form  of  the  demand. 

He  presented  it  to  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs. 


300 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


who  at  once  promised  it.  But  the  thing  ''  got  out," 
and  all  bakerdom  and  millerdom,  Riza  Pasha  leading 
on,  rose  up  against  it.  The  Turkish  minister  became 
evasive,  but  it  was  never  a  negative.  ^^  Enfin  je 
voiis  V arranger aiy  On  the  strength  of  the  promise 
I  began  the  building  preparations  and  ordered, 
through  Mr.  Ede,  a  small  steam  engine  of  six  horse 
power,  to  drive  one  small  pair  of  buhr  millstones.  I 
petitioned  the  Prudential  Committee  to  give  me 
credit  with  Mr.  McLauthlin,  of  Boston,  for  the  mill- 
stones, bolt,  duster,  etc.,  about  six  hundred  dollars, 
promising  payment  within  a  year  at  six  per  cent. 
The  Prudential  Committee  was  never  asked  to  go 
into  the  milling  business  before,  and  Dr.  Ander- 
son thought  Brother  Hamlin  needed  to  be  held  in 
with  bit  and  bridle.  But  with  some  hesitancy  the 
Prudential  Committee  vetoed  the  petition.  One  of 
the  members,  however,  John  Tappan,  Esq.,  of  Boston, 
offered  to  pay  the  bill  on  his  own  responsibility,  and 
only  begged  the  agent  of  the  Board  to  see  to  the 
order  and  say  nothing  to  me  about  it.  I  supposed 
the  mill  came  through  the  Board,  and  thanked  them 
warmly.  It  was  long  afterwards  that  I  knew  the  facts, 
and  thanked  more  warmly  John  Tappan,  who  saved 
me  from  months  of  most  injurious  delay.  I  paid 
him  principal  and  interest,  and  he  declared  to  me 
that  no  payment  of  that  amount  in  all  his  business 


Pastor  Mardiros. 

(f^reacher,  professor,  assisting  Mr.  Wheeler;  then  pastor  of  Vlanga  Church. 

Constantinople.     Graduate  of  Bebek  Seminary.     See  Appendix.) 


THE   SEMINARY. 


301 


life  ever  caused  him  such  intense  gratification,  so 
many  had  smiled  at  his  simplicity. 

I  employed  the  Armenians  so  far  as  I  could,  and 
my  "boys"  in  the  building.  We  were  going  on  very 
well,  when  one  day  two  government  engineers  came 
and  measured  and  mapped  down  the  works.  I  knew 
what  it  meant,  but  concluded  I  would  have  a  better 
opportunity  to  object  at  the  next  move.  I  told  the 
workmen  —  three  only  besides  the  students  —  to  keep 
the  gate  shut,  and  before  it  should  be  opened  the 
workmen  could  escape  in  the  rear.  They  could  be 
arrested  and  fined  for  working  upon  a  building  be- 
fore a  permit  was  given.  Next  day  the  officer  came 
with  orders  to  arrest  every  man  and  to  bring  them 
all  to  police  headquarters,  but  to  arrest  first  of  all 
and  to  secure  Demetri  Calfa,  a  Greek,  who  was  the 
head  workman.  The  thing  became  a  broad  farce. 
Demetri  was  eating  his  bread  and  olives  at  lunch 
time  and  stepped  thoughtlessly  into  the  street  just  in 
time  to  confront  the  stupid  constable,  who  said : 
"  Sabakh  haier  olsoon  ? "  (Good  morning).  "  Can  you 
tell  me  where  I  can  find  Demetri  Calfa.''"  '^  Evvet 
effcndwi  "  (Yes,  my  lord).  "You  will  find  him  in  the 
wineshop.  Go  down  and  turn  that  sharp  corner  to 
your  right  and  the  wineshop  is  before  you." 

The  befooled  constable  went  off,  and  Demetri 
came  and  told  me,  and  then   made   himself  safe,  as 


302  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

did  one  of  the  others.  About  a  dozen  students  were 
hard  at  work.  The  third  man,  a  natural  wag,  but  a 
strong  laborer,  went  up  into  the  attic,  against  my 
protest.  The  constable  came  puffing  in,  evidently 
feeling  that  he  had  been  made  game  of. 

"Where  is  Demetri  Calfa  }  " 

"  He  is  not  here,  sir." 

**Who  is  the  calfa  (head  workman)  of  these 
works  V 

"  I  am,  sir.     They  are  my  works." 

"Are  you  an  architect }  " 

"  I  am  an  American,  the  nazir  of  this  school,  and 
architect  enough  for  these  works." 

Straightening  himself  up,  he  cried :  "  Paidose^ 
paidose!  I  va^k&paidose  [interdict]  upon  these  works. 
Here,  every  one  of  you,  come  with  me  to  the  Porte." 

"  Go  to  work,  boys,"  I  said  ;  and  turning  to  him  I 
told  him  they  were  all  my  scholars,  and  that  he  could 
not  touch  them  ;  they  belonged  to  no  esnaf  or  guild. 

The  wag  in  the  attic,  in  the  meantime,  had  leaned 
out  of  the  window  to  hear  what  was  going  on  below. 
The  constable  happened  to  look  up  and  see  him. 

"  Come  down  here,  you  jackass  {eshek).  Now  I 
have  caught  an  isnafgi.*' 

"  Oh,  no !  "  said  the  wag ;  "  I  am  one  of  Mr. 
Hamlin's  scholars." 

"  You  a  scholar  !     Let  me  hear  you  read." 


THE   SEMINARY, 


303 


"Very  well,  sir,  I  will  read." 

And  finding  a  Turkish  Testament  up  there  where 
the  man  slept,  he  put  on  a  pair  of  huge  spectacles, 
and  bowing  back  and  forth  just  like  a  Turkish  softa, 
he  began  to  read,  with  sonorous  voice,  the  New 
Testament. 

**■  Yeteshir^  yeteshir  (it 's  enough,  it 's  enough)," 
said  the  constable,  while  the  boys  were  ready  to 
burst. 

I  then  put  my  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  said  : 
"  My  friend,  you  have  broken  the  treaty  quite  long 
enough.  I  reign  on  this  side  the  wall  and  you  on 
the  other ;  "  and  so  we  went  out  and  I  shut  the 
gate. 

"  Are  you  bigger  than  our  sultan,  that  you  put  me 
out .?  " 

**  Oh,  no,  effendim.  It  is  you  that  are  bigger  than 
your  sultan.  He  keeps  his  treaties,  but  you  break 
them.  You  can't  come  into  the  premises  of  an 
American  without  being  accompanied  by  an  officer 
from  his  embassy.  You  have  come  here  in  violation 
of  our  rights  by  treaty." 

So  I  left  him  and  went  into  the  house.  And  then, 
lest  he  should  get  back  among  the  boys,  I  returned 
and  found  him  sitting  on  a  stone  in  the  corner  of 
the  street  talking  to  himself.  "  Interdict,  interdict ! 
What  sort  of  an  interdict  is  this  }     The  calfa  is  an 


304 


MY    LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


American  and  a  Jiodjay  and  all  the  workmen  are  his 
scholars.  Such  an  interdict  never  saw  I !  What 
account  shall  I  give?" 

"  Look  here,  my  friend ;  you  go  back  and  tell 
them  who  sent  you  just  what  you  have  seen  and 
heard ;  and  tell  them,  moreover,  that  if  they  get  into 
this  establishment  again,  in  violation  of  our  treaty, 
they  will  do  it  by  force.  When  they  come  with  an 
officer  from  Mr.  Marsh,  our  minister,  I  shall  receive 
them  with  all  due  respect." 

Giving  him  a  backshish  to  hasten  his  departure,  he 
went  his  way,  and  I  went  to  Mr.  Marsh. 

"We  have  them  now,"  said  Mr.  Marsh,  "for  the 
minister  of  foreign  affairs  must  go  back  on  all  his 
promises  and  stop  the  works  and  put  a  government 
seal  upon  them,  or  give  me  the  firman.  I  shall  see 
him  to-morrow." 

The  interview  was  amusing.  When  Mr.  Marsh 
entered  the  Foreign  Ofifice  the  minister  sprang  from 
his  seat,  shook  hands  with  him,  and  said  :  "  I  am 
glad  to  see  you,  Mr,  Marsh.  I  wanted  to  tell  you 
that  the  firman  of  which  we  have  spoken  is  made 
out,  and  will  be  sent  to  your  ofifice  this  afternoon." 
Which  was  done ;  and  we  had  no  more  interference 
from  that  quarter. 

In  the  meantime  the  steam  engine  arrived  without 
the  boiler,  which  came  in  another  vessel.     I  antici- 


THE   SEMINARY. 


305 


pated  trouble  at  the  customhouse.  By  treaty  the 
government  could  charge  only  five  per  cent  ad 
valorem.  But  they  played  a  very  high  tune  on  ad 
valorem.  I  have  had  articles  placed  at  six  or  eight 
times  their  value,  and,  after  great  loss  of  time  and 
temper,  have  paid  ten  or  fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent 
on  a  five  per  cent  tariff.  But  that  was  a  small  part 
of  the  expense.  There  were  no  wharves,  and  the 
lighters  to  land  the  goods  were  a  government  monop- 
oly. There  was  one  heavy  charge  there,  another 
for  landing  them  on  the  wharf,  another  for  porterage 
into  the  customhouse,  another  for  opening,  and 
another  for  porterage  out  of  the  customhouse,  when 
the  profane  merchant  might  receive  them.  And  all 
this,  in  different  ways,  was  gone  through  with  at  the 
entrance  of  every  port  or  pasJialic  to  which  the 
goods  were  carried  afterwards.  Under  a  five  per 
cent  tariff,  the  merchant  often  paid  fifty  per  cent 
on  the  cost  of  his  goods.  Turkish  industries  flour- 
ished, for  they  were  really  and  powerfully  protected. 
When  at  length  this  policy  of  the  government  was 
completely  overthrown,  by  England  chiefly,  the  in- 
dustries of  Turkey  perished  and  her  rapid  impover- 
ishment began. 

At  the  customhouse  I  refused  to  say  anything 
about  the  machinery.  The  collector  had  repeatedly 
doubled  or  trebled  my  statement  after  I  had  shown 


306  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

the  bill  and  invoice,  and  I  told  him  I  should  never 
show  him  another  bill.  The  examiners  reported  the 
machinery  to  the  collector  as  a  "  big  garden  pump,'' 
and  he  put  it  down  at  eighty  liras,  about  ^350. 
When  the  boiler  arrived,  they  came  up  near  to  its 
value,  but  I  wondered  how  they  came  to  guess  so 
low.  The  whole  was  twenty  per  cent  below  cost. 
I  laid  it  up  against  him.  The  next  was  a  case  of 
Colt's  pistols,  which  they  reported,  I  believe,  as  a 
sort  of  fancy  pistol,  and  he  said  $3.50  each. 

After  I  had  paid,  and  had  the  customhouse  mark 
on  the  case,  I  went  up  to  the  collector  and  read 
to  him  m}'-  bill,  $1^  each,  and  said  to  him:  "You 
have  charged  but  little  over  one  fifth  of  their  real 
value,  which  if  you  had  taken  my  bill  you  would 
have  known." 

Pie  was  vexed,  but  finally  he  said  :  "  Look  here, 
Mr.  Hamlin,  you  are  an  honest  man,  and  not  like 
the  rest.     In  future  bring  me  your  bills." 

It  saved  a  great  deal  of  trouble  after  that. 

The  machinery  arrived  at  Bebek,  and  was  carried 
up  to  the  works  by  the  hamals  without  any  great 
fuss,  but  when  the  boiler  arrived  they  demanded  ten 
liras  (^44)  to  unload  and  carry  it  up.  I  offered  them 
two.  They  would  not  touch  it,  and  they  thought 
they  had  me  in  their  grip. 

There  was  an  English  ship  lying  at  anchor  close 


THE   SEMINARY. 


307 


by,  waiting  for  a  south  wind  to  take  her  up  into  the 
Black  Sea.  I  went  aboard  and  told  Captain  White 
of  my  predicament.  He  sent  four  sailors  ashore 
with  ropes  and  pulleys,  and  the  way  those  fellows 
rolled  that  boiler  on  to  the  wharf,  as  though  it  were  a 
bag  of  feathers,  made  the  hamals  exclaim  :  *'  Mashal- 
lah  !  "  He  would  take  no  compensation  nor  would 
the  sailors.  It  was  fun  to  them  to  make  the  Turks 
stare.  I  gave  them  some  books  which  I  knew  would 
help  them  pass  their  weary  days  at  anchor.  They 
were  there  a  fortnight.  Still  the  hamals  stood  upon 
ten  liras.  I  made  them  another  offer  and  gave  them 
ten  minutes  to  say  Yes  or  No,  after  which  I  would 
have  nothing  more  to  do  with  them. 

They  laughed  me  to  scorn,  and  I  went  off  and  left 
them.  After  consultation  they  proposed  to  carry  it 
for  fiftee^i  liras.  Their  price  had  riz  fifty  per  cent. 
I  asked  my  forty  boys  if  they  would  help  me,  and 
they  agreed  to  it  heartily.  I  mounted  the  boiler  on 
a  very  strong  sled  for  which  I  happened  to  have 
fitting  materials,  and  getting  a  long  coil  of  rope  and 
some  blocks  or  pulleys  from  Captain  White,  and  lay- 
ing scantling  in  the  street  for  the  greased  runners  of 
the  sled  to  slip  over,  the  boys  found  it  great  fun  to 
take  that  boiler  up  to  its  place.  They  had  the  half 
day  and  evening  to  themselves,  and  a  splendid  pilaf 
at    dinner.     Every    hamal    blamed    all    the    rest   for 


308  MV  LIFE  AND   TIMES. 

losing  the  job,  and  they  declared  they  would  never 
dispute  my  word  again.  I  almost  pitied  their 
humility.  They  were  strong,  muscular,  good  fellows 
on  the  whole. 

I  had  many  difficulties  to  surmount  in  setting  up 
the  engine  and  mill.  No  drawings  were  given,  and 
that  caused  some  perplexity.  The  fly  wheel  was 
simply  a  rough  casting,  not  engine  turned,  and  it 
was  an  exceedingly  difficult  job  to  set  it  true  on  the 
shaft.  Consternation  seized  me,  and  for  one  night 
my  sleep  departed  from  me,  when  I  found  my  steam 
pipe  short  by  eight  or  nine  inches.  But  I  finally 
determined  to  cast  the  piece  myself.  I  had  a  little 
furnace  which  I  had  built  for  trying  ores.  I  had  two, 
and  the  largest  would  answer  my  purpose.  I  sent 
a  couple  of"  boys  to  some  sand  banks  up  toward 
Therapia  to  see  if  they  could  find  any  sand  that  was 
adhesive  when  moist  and  pressed  in  the  hand.  I 
had  a  good  foot  lathe,  and  I  turned  the  model,  re- 
minding me  of  the  little  engine  I  made  in  Portland. 
The  sand  was  good  ;  I  sifted  it  fine,  sawed  a  box 
in  two  and  fitted  it  to  hold  the  sand.  In  fine,  I 
modeled  it  in  the  sand  as  I  had  seen  it  done  in 
foundries,  and  then  came  the  question  of  the  iron. 
If  inanimate  things  could  give  their  history,  they 
would  tell  wondrous  tales.  I  had  a  semi-globe  of 
iron  always  lying  about  which  Cheleby  Yorgak^  told. 


THE   SEMINARY. 


309 


me  was  the  balance  weight  of  his  island  boat  in  the 
days  of  his  wealth  and  glory.  Could  I  break  it  in 
pieces  so  as  to  melt  it  ?  I  had  a  heavy  sledge 
hammer  and  plenty  of  volunteers,  each  one  swinging 
the  hammer  twenty,  thirty,  forty  times,  according 
to  his  strength.  It  was  excellent  iron,  but  finally  it 
was  broken  up  and  put  in  the  smelting  pot,  and  its 
jolly  careers  over  the  blue  waters  of  the  Marmora  to 
the  Prince's  Islands  were  to  be  no  more. 

The  smelting  pot  had  a  history.  I  picked  it  up 
accidentally  full  ten  years  before  ;  I  never  had  had 
any  use  for  it  —  had  often  thought  it  a  nuisance  ;  but 
now  it  came  into  use.  I  could  not  have  found  one 
like  it  in  all  Constantinople. 

I  committed  three  blunders  :  I  did  not  dry  the 
sand  mold  enough ;  I  did  not  make  escape  ways 
for  gases  and  steam  large  enough  ;  and  I  made  the 
melted  iron  too  hot.  I  had  told  the  boys  I  would 
make  the  casting  at  just  a  quarter  to  one.  But  it  was 
not  fully  melted,  so  I  filled  up  with  coke,  and  said 
to  them  :  ''  Immediately  after  lunch  you  shall  see  it." 
When  I  lifted  it  from  the  furnace  and  cleared  off 
the  top,  it  took  fire,  and  coruscated  so  from  the 
oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  that  I  knew  it  was  fear- 
fully hot  ;  but  I  poured  it  boldly  in  — and  it  went  off 
like  a  cannon.  The  forty  boys  uttered  a  shout  of 
terror  and  rushed  through  a  passageway ;  some  fell 


3  I O  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

down,  and  others  fell  upon  them  or  leaped  over  them. 
The  box  was  clamped  so  strongly  at  the  sides  that 
it  had  to  burst  upwards.  The  suddenly  developed 
steam  was  irresistible,  and  the  melted  iron  shot  up 
by  my  head  into  the  ceiling,  so  low  that  I  could  reach 
it  with  my  hand.  Most  of  the  iron  fell  back  and 
must  not  be  stepped  on.  But  the  ceiling  was  all 
aflame.  A  tin  cup  in  a  pail  of  water  standing  by 
saved  the  building.  With  repeated  cupfuls  of  water 
thrown  direct  upon  the  burning  wood  I  extinguished 
the  fire,  and  was  glad  to  find  that  the  boys  in  their 
melee  had  had  no  serious  injuries. 

I  had  sand  enough  for  a  new  model ;  and  this  time 
I  dried  it  thoroughly,  and  made  free  ways  for  gas 
and  steam,  and  had  a  perfect  casting. 

At  length  all  things  were  ready  for  letting  on 
steam.  I  was  not  clear  as  to  the  position  of  the 
eccentric  for  working  the  slide-valve.  I  wished  to 
have  nobody  about  at  the  trial,  but  there  was  quite 
a  number  ready  to  report  disaster.  I  had  at  length 
to  let  on  the  steam.  The  adjustments  were  all  right, 
and  the  fly  wheel,  having  no  ivork  to  do,  went  flying 
with  a  most  dangerous  rapidity.  I  was  too  delighted 
to  think  of  consequences  for  a  few  moments,  when  I 
woke  to  the  danger  none  too  soon,  and  cut  off  the 
steam.     It  slowed  up  ;  and  I  was  triumphant. 

But  I  noticed  that  even  with  this  low  steam  my 


THE  SEMINAR  Y.  3 1  1 

joints  did  not  liold  perfectly.     What  would  they  do 
with  a  pressure  of   eighty  or  ninety  pounds?     We 
soon  found.     They  whistled  and  lang  on  many  notes. 
The  truth   is   such   rough   work  should   have    never 
been  sent.     The  surfaces  were   not  engine  turned. 
We   found   the  way  out  of   that  difficulty,  and   the 
mill  worked  passably  well -that  is,  in  our  estima- 
tion.    Not  one  of  us  knew  anything  about  real  mill- 
ing, which    is  an  art.     The  oven  was   finished   and 
heated,  and  everything  was  ready  for  making  bread. 
The   theory   for    that    art    I    knew   thoroughly.     I 
wanted  no  woman  to  talk  to  me  about  bread-making. 
Do  not  boast  of  your  book  knowledge  to  practical 
men   or   women.     Pride   goeth   before    a    fall.     My 
bread  came  out  flat  as  a  pancake,  and  too  sour  for 
mortal  man  to  eat.     The  next  was  better,  and  the 
third  was  eatable.     But  one  thing  was  plain  :  I  must 
have  a  man  called  a  kurekgi,  whose  sole  business  is 
to  see  to  the  heating  of  the  oven  and  the  charging 
and  discharging.     I  was  unwilling  to  incur  the  addi- 
tional expense,  having  done  nothing  yet  but  spend 
money  ;  but  one  of  my  men  advised  me  strongly  to 
engage  a  Cypreote  Greek  kurekgi.     Even  the  Turk- 
ish" and  Armenian  bakeries  have  them.     It  is  their 
trade,  and  nobody  equals  them  in  it.     "  Very  well,"  I 
said;  "go  to  the  bakers'  market  and  bring  me  one." 
He  did  so,  and  we  had  no  more  trouble. 


312  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

He  seemed  to  be  a  strong,  sleepy  fellow,  but  in 
charging  and  discharging  the  oven  he  was  like  one 
inspired.  My  men  looked  on  with  admiration.  He 
had  it  all  by  practice  and  heredity.  His  ancestors 
probably  for  many  centuries  or  millenniums  had  done 
the  same  thing  and  nothing  else.  These  men  of 
inherited  art  are  wonderful.  They  are  disappearing 
before  invention  and  science. 

The  main  question  now  came  to  the  fore  :  Could 
our  bread  be  sold  }  All  bakerydom  was  lying  about 
it,  and  most  ridiculous  stories  were  told  of  my  being 
master  of  the  black  art,  in  league  with  Satan,  that 
the  bread  would  bewitch  those  who  should  eat  it, 
etc.  My  workmen  were  greatly  concerned  about  it. 
I  said  to  them  :  ''  We  have  only  to  make  good  bread, 
and  about  as  much  above  the  legal  weight  as  these 
lying  bakers  make  it  below,  and  we  shall  see  if  the 
people  will  not  buy  it."  It  was  agreed  that  our  400 
dram  loaf  should  be  424,  the  200  should  be  212  and 
the  100  should  be  106. 

The  first  horse  load  of  100  okes,  275  pounds,  was 
sent  out  early  in  the  morning,  the  bread  still  warm. 
People  bought  it  from  curiosity,  and  whoever  bought 
a  loaf  went  right  to  the  bakals^  to  weigh  it,  and 
then  would  cry  out  the  weight.     "  Oh,  yes,  "  said  some, 


1  Every  bakal  or  grocer  keeps  a  pair  of  scales  with  government  stamped  weights 
and  every  one  can  weigh  at  his  open  counter  whatever  he  chooses. 


THE  SEMINARY,  313 

"to-day  and  to-morrow,  next  week  we  shall  see." 
The  people  liked  the  bread  and  liked  the  weight,  and 
it  swept  the  boycotting  away  like  chaff.  The  gov- 
ernment testers  came  a  few  times  to  weigh,  and  they 
weighed  to  their  hearts'  content,  but  never  found  a 
loaf  that  was  not  overweight.  The  last  time  they 
came,  they  insisted  upon  weighing  some  stale  bread, 
which  they  had  no  right  to  do,  and  I  threatened 
them  with  the  consequences  if  they  reported  upon 
that  as  fresh  bread;  but  even  that  was  up  to  weight. 
They  never  came  again. 

I  had  one  unhappy  experience  which  did  not  be- 
long to  the  mill  and  bakery.  Dr.  Van  Lennep  very 
earnestly  begged  me  to  give  a  lastmaker,  Kerios 
Rafa^ll,  an  excellent  Protestant  Greek,  enough  steam 
power  to  work  an  American  last  machine  which  he 
had  obtained  for  him.  On  its  arrival,  the  discovery 
was  made  that  it  needed  a  power  to  work  it  which 
had  not  been  considered !  It  was  such  a  painful 
predicament,  that  I  was  glad  to  let  him  have  all  the 
DOwer  that  could  be  spared  from  grinding  wheat, 
although  I  doubted  the  success.  The  machine  was 
brought,  set  up,  and  set  agoing  with  great  eclat.  It 
would  turn  out  a  last  in  a  minute  or  two.  It  prom- 
ised great  success,  and  I  loaned  Mr.  Rafaell  the 
money  to  pay  for  the  machine.  But  soon  it  fright- 
ened all  the  lastmakers  of  the  great  capital.     They 


H 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


formed  combinations  against  it,  and  boycotted  it  in 
the  most  remarkable  manner.  It  failed  absolutely, 
for  after  a  while  no  Greek  or  Armenian  shoemaker 
would  buy  one  of  the  lasts.  I  lost  $\^o  upon  the 
whole  affair.  The  mill  soon  ground  that  out,  and  on 
the  whole  it  was  better  that  I  should  prove  my  readi- 
ness to  help  a  Greek,  even  at  a  loss. 

The  work  expanded  rapidly,  and  in  about  two 
months  we  had  all  the  patronage  we  wanted  —  as  much 
as  our  little  mill  and  oven  could  attend  to.  There 
was  a  constant  demand  for  our  flour  and  semilena 
(farina)  as  well  as  for  our  bread. 

I  have  said  nothing  of  my  hard  experience  with 
the  mill.  It  worked  well  until  the  stones  were 
smooth  and  needed  dressing.  A  dozen  steel  picks 
came  with  the  mill,  and  I  carried  them  to  a  very 
good  English  blacksmith  and  machinist  to  be  tem- 
pered. He  made  them  so  hard  that  they  broke  like 
glass  —  the  next  time  so  soft  that  they  did  no  execu- 
tion. I  carried  them  to  the  French  Jesuit  miller 
in  the  college  of  San  Benedito  or  St.  Benoit.  He 
charged  me  a  greater  price  for  making  them  worse. 
Here  was  a  most  unlooked-for  block  in  our  path,  just 
as  we  began  to  see  brilliant  success  before  us.  I 
must  learn  to  temper  those  picks  myself  or  our 
enterprise  would  be  a  failure  ! 

I  shut  myself  up  with  my  forge,  with  good  char- 


THE   SEMINARY. 


315 


coal,  a  can  of  olive  oil,  and  Ure's  Dictionary  of  the 
Arts. 

I  tempered  the  twenty-four  points  on  different 
shades,  and  then  tried  them  on  the  buhrstone.  Some 
were  hard,  some  were  soft,  some  were  just  right.  I 
caught  the  shade,  and  after  a  little  while  it  was  fun 
to  temper  those  picks.  There  is  something  divine 
in  these  occult  laws  of  matter  and  their  relations  to 
man.  He  who  constituted  nature  constituted  also 
the  mind,  and  we  ought  to  worship  God  in  every 
triumph  over  nature's  laws  so  called. 

We  had  no  more  serious  troubles.  Our  experiment 
was  a  success,  even  beyond  my  expectations.  The 
men  were  industrious  and  intelligent.  They  were 
well  paid,  but  they  understood  well  that  no  lazy 
person  would  be  tolerated  in  the  camp,  any  more  than 
a  leper  in  Israel.  I  informed  the  station  that  I  could 
give  work  in  milling,  baking,  or  distributing,  and  there 
was  no  further  need  of  money  to  any  who  wanted  to 
work  for  a  living,  and  as  for  the  rest,  let  them  starve. 
It  was  a  hard  gospel,  but  a  wholesome  one.  It 
weeded  out  the  lazy. 

At  the  end  of  a  year,  we  settled  accounts  and  took 
account  of  stock.  I  paid  back  to  Mr.  Ede  one  half 
the  capital  he  had  furnished,  and  eight  per  cent  on 
the  use  of  it.  This  was  a  very  gratifying  result, 
considering  it  was  the  first  year,  and  so  much  wai. 


3l6  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

lost  in  experimenting.  The  men  developed  more 
sharpness,  insight,  ingenuity,  and  inventiveness  than 
I  had  dared  to  hope  for.  The  simple  fact  is,  their 
own  success  was  involved  in  the  success  of  the 
work ;  and,  the  capital  paid  off,  it  would  all  be 
handed  over  to  them.  The  Orientals  are  con- 
sidered an  indolent  people.  Let  them  feel  assured 
that  they,  and  not  their  oppressors,  will  enjoy 
the  fruits  of  their  labors,  and  they  will  be  as 
industrious  and  enterprising  as  any  of  the  peoples 
of  Europe. 

I  was  now  led  by  Henrietta's  earnest  solicitation 
to  try  the  experiment  of  making  and  putting  upon 
the  market  bread  made  with  hop  yeast,  such  as  she 
sometimes  made,  of  very  excellent  quality.  It  had 
never  been  made  in  Constantinople.  All  bread  is 
there  made  with  leaven,  which  leaves  an  acid  taste, 
which  the  Orientals  like,  and  which  Englishmen  and 
Americans  dislike. 

I  had  some  doubts  about  being  able  to  obtain  hops 
for  the  yeast,  except  by  importing  from  abroad.  I 
had  noticed  a  luxuriant  growth  of  wild  hops  between 
Nicomedia  and  Adabazar. 

Seeing  my  dear  old  friend  Der  Harutiune,  from 
Nicomedia,  he  at  once  offered  to  employ  some  boys 
to  gather  as  many  hops  as  I  should  want.  He  soon 
sent  me  a  good  solid  bag  which  he  had  obtained  at  a 


THE   SEMINARY. 


317 


trifling  cost.  But  for  him  I  might  never  have  made 
the  experiment. 

The  history  of  Der  Harutiune  is  a  remarkable  one 
and  I  will  here  adjourn  the  bread  to  sketch  briefly 
the  few  things  I  know  of  him.  His  interesting 
conversion  and  that  of  his  fellow  priest,  Der  Ver- 
tanes,  are  given  in  Dr.  Goodell's  **  Forty  Years  in 
the  Turkish  Empire,"  pages  220-228. 

Before  his  conversion,  he  was  one  of  those  sober- 
minded  priests  who  had  enough  spiritual  discern- 
ment and  feeling  to  be  dissatisfied  with  himself  and 
with  the  Armenian  church.  But  the  Greeks  were  no 
better,  the  Catholics  were  no  better,  and  he  had  no 
teacher  who  would  help  him.  The  tract,  "  The  Dairy- 
man's Daughter,"  accidentally  left  by  Dr.  Goodell, 
brought  light  and  joy  into  his  soul.  His  associate 
priest,  Der  Vertanes,  fully  and  joyfully  participated 
with  him  in  this  experience.  Thenceforth  they  were 
faithful  preachers  of  the  truth  in  their  own  way. 
They  calmly  and  repeatedly  suffered  severe  persecu- 
tion, were  beaten,  stoned,  imprisoned,  anathematized, 
and  bore  it  all  calmly  and  heroically  for  Christ's  sake. 

Der  Harutiune  was  a  man  of  inborn  amiableness 
of  disposition.  I  knew  him  from  1839  to  1873. 
The  mildness  of  his  character  was  not  inertia.  He 
had  clear  and  positive  views  of  men  and  things,  and 
often  expressed  them  very  clearly.     He  was  a  quiet 


3  I  8  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

thinker.  He  had  read  whatever  theology  there  was 
in  the  ancient  Armenian,  and  had  carefully  noted 
the  differences  of  opinion,  as  one  leaned  toward  the 
teachings  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  another 
against  them.  He  was  a  very  beautiful  penman,  and 
he  had  manuscript  books  of  extracts  made  from  the 
old  writers,  written  with  an  accuracy  and  beauty 
of  execution  that  has  filled  me  with  wonder.  The 
graces  of  modesty,  humility,  unselfishness  crowned 
his  life  with  honor.  His  persecutors  often  acknowl- 
edged that  he  was  too  good  a  man  to  be  deluded  by 
such  a  pestilent  heresy. 

He  was  a  man  of  trained  and  quick  observation. 
He  knew  all  the  trees  and  plants  of  the  region  about 
him.  He  knew  all  the  fish  of  the  Gulf  of  Nicomedia 
and  was  expert  in  catching  them.  There  was  no 
machine  or  tool  or  industry  of  the  people  that  he 
was  not  acquainted  with.  If  he  saw  any  curious  but 
beautifully  made  instrument  exposed  for  sale  in  any 
of  the  old  medley  shops,  he  was  sure  to  buy  it  at  a 
low  price.  He  had  a  room  in  his  house  at  Nicomedia 
which  was  quite  a  curiosity  shop.  When  my  insulat- 
ing stool  got  broken,  he  produced  one  that  he  had 
picked  up.  The  shopkeeper  could  only  tell  him  that 
some  "  Ghiaour  fool  had  made  a  stool  with  glass 
legs." 

His  extensive   information   was   often   of   use   to 


THE   SEMINARY.  319 

me.  He  loved  to  visit  my  house  and  spend  a 
night.  My  children  were  a  great  curiosity  to  him. 
He  often  brought  presents  of  fruit  and  caimak  (con- 
densed cream),  for  which  Nicomedia  is  famous.  He 
said  of  the  children  :  "  Their  parents  are  born  in 
them,  and  that  is  the  reason  they  are  different  from 
ours." 

He  brought  Henrietta,  when  she  may  have  been 
four  or  five  years  old,  a  young  partridge  in  a  cage. 
It  became  quite  tame,  and  would  play  with  the  chil- 
dren, or  would  chase  them  round  the  room,  which 
was  great  fun  to  them.  Henrietta  drew  pictures  of 
the  partridge  on  a  porcelain  slate  for  amusement,  and 
one  was  so  exact  that  her  mother  put  it  away  to 
keep.     Henrietta  has  it  still. 

Months  after,  when  he  visited  us  again,  and  saw 
that  partridge  playing  with  the  children,  or  them 
playing  with  it,  he  expressed  great  surprise  and  was 
not  a  little  amused.  But  the  poor  partridge  finally 
became  insane,  and  would  attack  any  one  of  us  with 
such  fury  that  it  had  to  be  kept  in  its  cage.  It  was 
finally  given  away  as  a  crazy  bird.  He  afterwards 
brought  the  children  a  pair  which  had  a  less  distin- 
guished history,  and  they  were  stolen. 

I  must  mention  his  appearing  in  court  as  a  wit- 
ness. It  was  a  case  in  which  I  felt  interested,  and 
I  was  there  to  see.     Der  Harutiune  was  then  in  his 


320  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

eighty-first  year,  and  he  rarely  came  to  Constan- 
tinople. He  was  compelled  to  come  as  a  witness. 
When  at  length  the  priest  Harutiune  was  called,  to 
the  witness  stand,  he  came  forward ;  his  hair,  snow- 
white,  abundant,  beautifully  curling  upon  his  shoul- 
ders, his  beard  white  as  the  driven  snow,  his  look 
calm  and  self-possessed. 

The  Turkish  judge  eyed  him  for  a  moment  and 
said :  **  My  father,  how  old  are  you  '^.  " 

*'Thy  servant  is  past  eighty,"  he  replied. 

"  Bring  a  chair  for  that  old  gentleman,"  said  the 
judge  with  a  tone  of  authority  to  one  of  the  servants 
of  the  court. 

"  Oh,  no,  your  honor !  thy  servant  is  well  able  to 
stand." 

"  No  witness  of  your  age  and  venerableness  shall 
stand  in  my  presence  to  give  his  testimony." 

And  with  the  evident  delight  of  all  present  the 
old  gentleman  had  to  sit  down,  which  he  did,  bow- 
ing with  dignity  and  grace  to  the  judge. 

It  was  a  purely  Oriental  scene.  It  was  the  rever- 
ence for  age.  Nothing  so  beautiful  ever  happens 
in  our  courts.  His  testimony  was  given  so  clearly 
and  modestly,  and  his  answers  were  so  prompt  and 
direct,  that  the  case  was  decided.  I  think  this  was 
his  last  visit  to  the  city.  He  died  in  peace  in  a  good 
old  age,  greatly  beloved  and  respected. 


THE   SEMINARY. 


321 


His  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  gospel  among 
his  people  was  unabated  from  the  first.  He  and  Der 
Vertanes  were  extremely  desirous  to  have  a  pure 
church  formed  that  would  have  no  worship  of  pic- 
tures and  relics,  and  would  be  free  from  all  other 
things  contrary  to  the  gospel.  They  were  ready  for 
any  persecutions  that  might  follow.  When  at  length 
they  were  both  publicly  anathematized,  their  priestly 
robes  torn  from  them  with  violence,  and  they  driven 
through  the  streets  with  hootings  and  covered  with 
mud,  they  took  all  this  with  joy,  giving  thanks  to 
God  that  it  was  mud  and  not  stones,  and  the 
Turkish  prison  which  sheltered  them  from  further 
violence  was  to  them  a  palace  and  the  very  gate 
of  heaven.  Der  Vertanes  lived  to  nearly  ninety  and 
was  steadfast  unto  the  end.  The  names  and,  mem- 
ories of  these  two  priests  will  live  as  long  as  the 
history  of  this  Protestant  Reformation  in  Turkey 
shall  be  known.  They  are  now  doubtless  with  the 
innumerable  company  of  angels,  and  with  the  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  firstborn  whose  names 
are  written  in  heaven. 

Now  let  us  go  back  to  our  bread-making,  from 
which  this  dear  memory  led  us  astray. 

Henrietta,  who  was  always  up  to  anything  proper 
for  a  girl  of  fifteen  to  do,  took  the  hops  and  made 
the  yeast  according  to  directions,  and  brought  out 


322 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


excellent  and  delicious  bread.  In  the  meantime  I 
had  learned  what  great  improvements  could  be  made 
in  the  bread  by  mixing  different  kinds  of  flour.  Ten 
per  cent  of  the  Azof  flour  from  the  mills  of  the 
Mennonites,  mixed  with  our  own,  made  the  most 
brilliant  and  delicious  bread  that  could  be  found. 
I  purchased  at  a  rare  opportunity  one  hundred  and 
forty  sacks,  and  would  have  purchased  afterwards  a 
greater  amount,  had  not  war  finally  closed  the  market. 

Just  at  that  time,  one  of  those  curious  Yankees 
that  roam  over  the  world  turned  up  and  wanted 
employment. 

"  What  can  you  do  .? " 

"Anything  you  please,  sir.  I  have  been  for  some 
years  a  baker,  and  I  have  also  been  a  sailor  and  a 
cook  and  a  carpenter.  I  can  turn  my  hands  to 
'most  anything." 

I  put  him  at  once  upon  this  bread,  and  it  passed 
out  of  Henrietta's  hands  into  his. 

He  was  a  man  of  skill  and  intelligence.  The 
bread  was  superb.  The  servant  of  a  Turkish  ef- 
fendi  in  Rumlie  Hissar  came  regularly  every  morn- 
ing for  a  couple  of  loaves.  Years  after,  when  I 
was  building  the  college,  I  found  it  was  Ahmet 
Vefyk  Effendi.  He  surprised  me  one  day  by  asking 
whatever  became  of  my  Bebek  oven.  He  was  sorry 
to  lose  that  bread  —  "the  best  ever  made." 


THE   SEMINARY. 


Z'^Z 


The  Yankee  bread-maker  did  not  stay  long.  The 
breezes  of  the  Crimean  war  carried  him  off,  and  I 
heard  no  more  of  him. 

In  making  the  yeast,  we  found  that  a  German 
brewer  had  a  yeast  that  was  better  to  start  the 
fermentation  of  our  yeast  than  the  old  yeast  kept 
over.  Our  getting  this  from  the  beer  factory  made 
our  workmen  designate  our  bread  as  "  bira  bread," 
and  by  that  name  it  went,  and  goes  so  still.  Thus 
this  new  bread  came  into  the  market.  The  Arme- 
nian workmen  got  hold  of  the  making  of  it,  and  when 
the  American  left,  the  Armenians  kept  right  on 
making  it  with  perfect  success. 

I  reduced  the  whole  work  to  such  system  that  I 
now  had  little  to  do  with  it,  except  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  when  the  accounts  of  the  okes  of  flour 
sold  and  the  okes  weighed  out  for  use,  the  okes  of 
bread  it  had  produced  and  the  money  received,  were 
all  entered  in  parallel  columns,  and  also  the  sacks  of 
flour  remaining  in  store.  In  one  hour  I  could  ascer- 
tain beyond  a  doubt  the  result  of  the  week's  work. 

I  found  a  surprising  difference  in  flour  as  to  the 
percentage  of  water  it  absorbed  in  bread.  Some 
wheat  produced  flour  which  absorbed  only  thirty- 
three  per  cent.  That  is,  every  lOO  okes  of  flour 
produced  133  okes  of  bread.  But  some  flour  pro- 
duced considerably  more,  even  as  high  as  forty-five 


324  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

per  cent.  If  you  have  dishonest  men  around  you, 
here  is  a  temptation  to  dishonesty,  unless  you  test 
the  flour.  ^ 

Just  as  I  was  hoping  to  throw  off  the  work  from 
my  shoulders,  it  entered  upon  a  new  phase.  In  the 
summer  and  autumn  of  1853,  there  were  rumors  of 
trouble  from  the  designs  of  Russia.  The  harbor  was 
full  of  grain.  Wheat  had  not  been  so  cheap  for 
years.  I  had  bargained  with  a  Greek  captain  of  a 
schooner  having  3,180  bushels  at  the  price  of  four- 
teen piastres  the  bushel.  He  agreed  to  wait  a  week, 
until  I  could  get  a  place  ready  to  receive  it.  One 
morning  I  went  down  to  the  landing  to  tell  him  it 
was  ready,  but  behold,  no  Greek  schooner  there ! 
He  had  sold  his  wheat  to  a  French  agent  at  forty- 
two  piastres  the  bushel !  Foreign  agents  and  specu- 
lators had  bought  up  all  the  wheat  they  could  lay  their 
hands  on.     There  was  going  to  be  war  with  Russia. 

I  went  to  Mr.  Ede.  He  did  not  really  believe 
there  would  be  war.  **They  will  patch  it  up,  and 
then  those  who  have  bought  wheat  at  forty-two  may 
have  to  sell  at  ten."  So  we  agreed  to  keep  only 
two  or  three  weeks'  supply  on  hand,  and  creep  along 
within  sight  of  shore.  The  price  of  bread  had  risen 
with  the  wheat,  and  our  work  was  nearly  the  same. 

The  war  became  a  certainty.  Troops  began  to 
arrive,    and   the    English   established   a   hospital   at 


THE   SEMINARY. 


325 


Scutari.  One  of  my  English  neighbors,  Mr.  John 
Seager,  opened  a  store  of  all  sorts  of  eatables  and 
drinkables  for  officers  and  men,  near  the  great  hos- 
pital and  the  tents  of  the  soldiers.  He  wanted  a 
hundred  loaves  every  day  of  my  hop  yeast  (bira) 
bread.  It  was  eagerly  sought,  and  he  advised  me  to 
open  a  great  bread  store  there.  I  might  sell  an 
immense  quantity.  I  told  him  he  might  have  his 
hundred  loaves  every  morning,  but  beyond  that  I 
had  no  desire  to  enlarge  my  work.  I  had  already 
accomplished  all  I  had  intended  and  more. 

But  soon  after  an  orderly  came  and  said  :  "  Dr. 
Mapleton  wants  you  to  call  upon  him  at  the  English 
Military  Hospital  at  Scutari." 

"Who  is  Dr.  Mapleton.?" 

"  Lord  Raglan's  chief  physician,  sir,  and  now 
organizing  the  hospital." 

"  You  are  under  some  mistake.  I  have  nothing  to 
do  with  Dr.  Mapleton,  nor  has  he  with  me." 

But  finally  I  agreed  to  call  upon  him  the  next  day, 
as  the  orderly  said  that  he  believed  that  it  was 
with  regard  to  bread. 

The  Selimieh  barracks  at  Scutari  had  been  taken 
by  the  English  embassador.  Lord  Stratford  de  Red- 
cliffe.  They  were  built  under  the  direction  and  plan 
of  the  great  Moltke,  while  a  young  German  officer 
under  Sultan  Mahmoud.     They  were  built  round  a 


326  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

hollow  square,  five  hundred  feet  on  a  side.  The 
world  wondered  if  the  whole  British  army  were  going* 
into  hospital. 

I  found  Dr.  Mapleton  splendidly  installed  in  a 
noble,  spacious  room,  quite  conscious  that  he  was 
worthy  of  his  environment.  He  looked  up  and 
without  any  salutation  said  :  — 

"■  Are  you  Hamlin  the  baker }  " 

"  No,  sir ;  I  am  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hamlin,  an  American 
missionary." 

"That  is  just  about  as  correct  as  anything  I  get 
in  this  country.  I  send  for  a  baker  and  I  get  a  mis- 
sionary. Thank  God,  I  am  not  a  heathen  that  I 
should  want  a  missionary !  " 

Two  loaves  of  the  bread  were  on  his  table  and  I 
said  to  him  :  "  I  presume  that  bread  is  what  you  want, 
and  you  don't  care  whether  it  comes  from  a  heathen 
or  a  missionary." 

"  Exactly  so,"  he  said. 

I  then  told  him  how  it  was  that  I,  an  American 
missionary,  should  have  anything  to  do  with  bread- 
making.  Not  that  only,  but  various  other  industries 
I  had  inaugurated  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the 
persecuted  to  sustain  themselves  and  their  families. 
I  had  no  personal  interest  in  it  at  all. 

He  became  impatient  and  broke  in  :  "  Oh,  that 's  a 
very  fine  story,  no  doubt.     I  don't  care  a  sixpence 


THE   SEMINARY. 


y^i 


for  it.  I  wish  to  know  if  you  can  furnish  us  the 
bread." 

"■  I  can  if  you  will  pay  for  it,"  as  though  I  distrusted 
him,  for  I  was  determined  to  reduce  his  hauteur. 

"Why,  of  course  we  shall  pay  for  it  !  but  I  want 
you  to  state  the  terms." 

I  replied :  "  We  are  selling  it  to  the  public  at  four 
piastres  the  oke,  and  you  will  have  to  give  the  same 
price." 

"  But  I  neither  know  what  the  oke  is  nor  what  the 
piastre  is.  Would  you  have  the  kindness  to  state 
that  in  English  weight  and  money  .'^" 

*'  If  you  will  give  me  pen  and  paper,  I  will  write  it 
out  for  you." 

So  I  sat  down  and  wrote  out  very  deliberately  and 
slowly,  but  without  showing  any  embarrassment :  — 

I  oke  Turkish=2.75  lbs.  English. 
I  English  sovereign=iio  piastres  gold  T. 
Consequently  4  piastres=8.72,  price  of  i  oke. 
I  lb.  English  of  bread=3.i7,  say  3  pence  farthing. 

I  showed  the  paper  to  him  and  after  carefully 
examining  it,  he  said  with  a  tone  of  incredulity : 
"  Do  you  mean  to  say,  sir,  that  you  can  furnish  this 
bread  at  this  price  .^  It  is  just  half  what  we  are 
paying  for  bread  our  poor  invalids  won't  eat.  We 
are  paying  sixpence  ha'penny  the  pound." 


328  ^V  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

So  he  wanted  me  to  go  over  immediately  and 
make  a  contract  with  Commissary  General  Smith, 
and  lose  no  time.  Lord  Raglan  had  examined  the 
bread,  and  pronounced  it  excellent. 

I  could  not  go  then,  but  would  go  the  next  day  if 
possible  ;  and  so  we  parted  with  perfect  cordiality. 

General  Smith  seemed  to  be  an  excellent  business 
man,  who  went  direct  to  the  point  without  any  loss 
of  time.  When  I  looked  over  the  printed  form  of 
the  contract  which  I  was  to  fill  out  and  sign,  I  told 
the  general  that  the  sentence  *'  to  deliver  every 
morning  between  the  hours  of  eight  and  ten,  or  at 
such  other  hours  as  might  be  agreed  upon,"  etc., 
must  have  the  interpolation  "  except  Sunday  "  after 
the  word  **  morning."  The  bread  could  all  be  deliv- 
ered Saturday  evening,  say  at  sunset. 

**The  laws  of  war  do  not  regard  Sunday,"  he 
replied.  ''  I  cannot  change  a  syllable  in  that  form 
of  contract." 

**  Very  well,  sir ;  then  I  will  not  furnish  the  bread. 
I  have  not  sought  the  business.  Your  chief  physi- 
cian, Dr.  Mapleton,  sent  for  me  and  requested  me  to 
supply  this  bread." 

He  bit  his  lips  in  doubt,  but  said :  "  The  chief 
purveyor,  Mr.  Ward,  is  a  good  Scotch  Christian,  and 
he  will  arrange  with  you  for  that." 

So  I  signed,  with  a  protest  against  that  article,  and 


THE   SEMINARY, 


329 


went  to  Mr.  Ward.  He  had  no  objection  whatever 
to  the  Saturday  delivery.  He  aimed  to  keep  fresh 
bread  twenty-four  hours  before  delivering,  and  this 
would  be  the  best  thing  possible. 

So  the'furnishing  began.  I  think  it  was  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  one-pound  loaves  a  day.  It  gradually 
increased  to  six  thousand  pounds  a  day  for  that 
hospital  alone.  It  gave  such  satisfaction,  that,  at  the 
end  of  three  months,  when  the  contracts  must  all 
be  subjected  to  a  new  competition,  the  bread  was 
excepted,  by  express  order  of  Lord  Raglan. 

The  rapid  filling  up  of  the  hospital  by  invalids 
and  the  wounded  sent  down  from  the  front 
occasioned  enormous  evils  that  prudence  and  fore- 
sight should  have  prevented.  Vessels  were  arriving 
almost  every  day,  with  fifty  or  a  hundred  or  two 
hundred  cases,  and  this  rapid  increase  was  not  met 
by  any  corresponding  increase  of  surgeons  and 
nurses.  The  chief  physician.  Dr.  Menzies  (Maple- 
ton  was  with  Lord  Raglan),  was  a  selfish,  greedy, 
beastly  fellow,  who  seemed  to  think  that  if  the 
English  soldier  is  given  beer  and  brandy  enough,  he 
will  do.  The  death  rate  was  awful.  The  trenches 
were  dug  in  the  daytime,  the  burials  were  at  night 
to  avoid  a  panic. 

The  good  old  purveyor  Mr.  Ward  made  prodi- 
gious efforts  on  his  part  to  relieve  the  suffering  men. 


330  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

He  took  the  hospital  fever  from  his  overwork  and 
anxiety,  and  died. 

It  was  when  the  bread  supply  had  become  so  large, 
that  Mr.  Rogers,  the  second  purveyor,  invited  me 
to  his  room.  The  sum  of  it  all  was  that  I  must 
give  to  him  and  Dr.  Menzies  a  share  of  my  profits. 
All  the  other  contractors  did  so,  and  they  expected 
me  to  do  the  same.  I  replied  that  I  had  no  profits, 
and  that  if  I  had,  I  would  not  enter  into  any  such 
compact.  He  intimated  that  it  would  not  be  well 
for  me  to  refuse,  and  I  soon  began  to  understand 
what  that  meant. 

A  conspiracy  was  formed  against  the  bread,  of 
which  Menzies  and  Rogers  were  the  chiefs,  and 
there  must  have  been  at  least  one  or  two  of  the 
doctors  with  them.  First  the  bread  was  heated  in 
close  boxes  in  a' room  raised  to  an  intolerable  heat. 
It  of  course  fermented,  and  was  then  reported  to 
the  commissary  general  as  bad  bread.  About  $500 
worth  had  been  condemned  before  I  found  out  the 
truth.  An  honest  hospital  servant  told  me  secretly. 
I  stopped  that  game  effectually,  and  I  saved  full 
half  of  the  bread,  by  having  the  men  slice  it  up  and 
dry  it  in  the  oven,  when  it  sold  readily  as  rusk.  Had 
I  thought  of  that  sooner,  every  condemned  loaf 
might  have  been  saved. 

The  next  turn  was  to  make  bogus  bread  of  bad 


THE   SEMINARY.  331 

materials  and  get  it  condemned  and  sent  to  the 
commissariat  as  our  bread.  The  chief  working  con- 
spirator, **old  Tom  Parry,"  was  clumsy  at  his  work, 
and  made  the  bread  in  tin  forms  longer  and  narrower 
than  any  that  could  be  found  in  our  works  at  Scutari 
or  Bebek.  This  made  General  Smith  confess  that 
it  looked  very  much  like  a  conspiracy,  and  he  refused 
to  entertain  the  accusation.  But  next,  they  broke 
open  loaves,  and  inserted  baked  bedbugs  in  them 
and  sent  them  to  the  commissariat  as  fair  specimens 
of  my  bread. 

I  immediately  threw  up  the  contract  in  disgust, 
and  appealed  to  Lord  Raglan  against  paying  the 
penalty  of  two  hundred  pounds,  because  I  had  most 
faithfully  performed  the  contract,  and  was  the  victim 
of  a  base  conspiracy  which  I  briefly  sketched.  I 
sent  this  through  Commissary  General  Smith  to  Lord 
Raglan  at  Sevastopol.  An  immediate  despatch  was 
received,  relieving  me  of  the  penalty,  ordering  the 
hospital  to  pay  for  every  loaf  condemned,  and  order- 
ing also  the  bread  supply  to  a  new  competition ! 

"  That  is  Menzies'  death  knell,"  said  General  Smith 
when  he  read  to  me  the  dispatch. 

"  It  is  my  grand  deliverance  and  justification,"  I 
replied ;  "  but  how  is  it  his  death  knell }  " 

"Why,  he  is  plainly  condemned  as  chief  of  the 
conspiracy." 


332 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


Parry  got  the  contract,  at  fifty  per  cent  advance  of 
my  price,  but  just  then  flour  rose  fifty  per  cent,  and 
their  golden  dream  vanished.  But  they  had  saved 
me  from  ruin.  With  that  rise  in  the  price  of  flour, 
every  day  would  have  entailed  a  loss  and  a  heavy 
one  on  me.     My  enemies  had  saved  me  ! 

The  small  hospital  of  eight  hundred  at  Kulelie 
refused  to  receive  their  bread.  Dr.  Tice,  the  chief 
physician,  was  a  gentleman  who  had  no  affinity  with 
the  Menzies  clique,  and  I  continued  sending  to  him, 
nearly  opposite  to  Bebek,  the  eight  hundred  loaves, 
but  at  the  new  price,  greatly  to  the  chagrin  of  Parry 
and  Menzies. 

The  great  hospital  in  the  meantime  had  reached 
its  highest  point  of  misery  and  disorder — not  less 
than  six  thousand  invalids,  with  no  sufficient  supply 
of  medicine  or  other  service  and  with  no  organiza- 
tion to  use  to  advantage  the  existing  means.  Such 
scenes  of  suffering  and  wicked  neglect  I  never  wit- 
nessed. I  thought  one  day  I  would  go  around  the 
great  quadrangle  through  the  corridor  five  hundred 
feet  on  a  side.  Beginning  at  the  middle  of  the 
front,  I  went  through  that  and  perhaps  half  or  a 
little  more  of  the  next  corridor  at  the  left.  Men 
were  dying ;  some  were  dead  and  the  sheet  drawn 
over  the  face.  The  smells  and  sights  were  awful, 
and  I  turned  back,  but  seeing  in  one  of  the  rooms  a 


THE   SEMINARY.  333 

fine-looking  soldier  raised  to  a  half-sitting  posture, 
I  saluted  him,  and  asked  him  what  they  needed  most. 

"  O  sir,"  he  said,  "  night  watchers.  The  lights 
are  put  out  at  nine  or  ten,  and  we  are  told  '  Every- 
man is  to  be  quiet  and  go  to  sleep.'  But  after  a 
time  there  is  a  cry  for  'Water,  water}'  and  one  is 
crazy  and  sings,  another  curses  ;  some  get  up  to 
help  a  comrade  and  are  made  worse  by  it ;  and  so 
the  long  night  wears  away." 

I  offered  to  organize  a  night-watching  corps  of 
volunteers,  but  Dr.  Menzies  rejected  the  offer  with 
disdain. 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  Florence  Nightingale 
came,  with  a  dozen  trained  nurses  and  forty  hospital 
servants.  I  am  not  sure  that  she  had  just  that  num- 
ber. It  was  so  reported,  and  forty  seems  an  easy 
word  for  many. 

I  went  one  morning  to  the  hospital  to  settle  some 
accounts.  When  the  business  was  finished  the  pur- 
veyor said  to  me  :  "  Fancy,  Mr.  Hamlin,  some  women 
have  come  to  the  hospital !  A  Miss  Nightingale, 
with  a  force  of  assistants,  has  come  and  taken  pos- 
session of  rooms  at  the  right  of  the  front  entrance. 
Was  anything  ever  more  improper  than  women  in 
such  a  place  }  " 

I  replied :  "  It  is  time,  Mr.  Parker,  that  somebody 
should  come  in  here  and  do  somethmg:  for  I  do  not 


334  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^    TIMES. 

believe  that  any  Turkish  hospital  since  the  Turks 
took  Constantinople  ever  equaled  this  in  disorder, 
filth,  and  suffering." 

"I  know  it,  I  know  it,"  he  said ;  **but  we  are  soon 
to  have  surgeons  and  servants  from  England,  and  the 
things  you  have  seen  will  soon  be  remedied.  But 
these  women  will  not  stay  long." 

Dr.  Menzies  set  himself  to  make  her  position  in- 
sufferable. He  soon  found  that  she  was  master  of 
the  situation.  She  was  a  quiet,  self-possessed,  inter- 
esting, intelligent  lady,  evidently  wholly  absorbed  in. 
her  work.  She  had  the  faculty  of  command,  and  her 
corps  of  aids  never  thought  any  thoughts  different 
from  hers. 

It  was  said  the  affair  with  Menzies  culminated  in 
this  way.  Florence  asked  Menzies  one  day  to  have 
the  kindness  to  open  storeroom  Number  7 ;  she 
wanted  such  and  such  things. 

Menzies  replied :  "  No  such  articles  are  there, 
Miss  Nightingale.  They  all  went  up  to  the  front. 
You  know  how  many  things  go  to  the  front  which 
should  stop  here,  and  the  reverse." 

"  Well,  I  would  like  to  have  the  door  opened,  or  I 
shall  send  men  to  break  it  down." 

This  evidently  alarmed  him.  She  must  have  au- 
thority that  he  had  not  suspectedo  The  door  was 
opened,  and  she  found  just  what  she  wanted.     The 


THE   SEMINARY. 


335 


keen-eyed  doctors  saw  on  which  side  their  bread  was 
buttered.  Menzies'  star  fell,  and  the  star  of  the 
Nightingale  was  in  the  ascendant. 

Dr.  Menzies  was  soon  recalled,  and  a  doctor  from 
England  took  his  place.  General  Smith's  remark 
about  that  dispatch  being  Menzies'  death  knell 
proved  true,  but  I  do  not  imagine  that  the  bread' 
conspiracy  was  of  any  great  weight  in  the  case. 
Post  hocy  but  not  propter  hoc.  He  had  been  in 
collusion  with  Tom  Parry  and  other  contractors,  and 
had  plundered  the  government  enormously. 

Very  soon  Miss  Nightingale  transformed  that 
hospital.  From  the  first,  she  divided  her  forces  into 
night  watches,  and  there  were  nurses  and  assistant 
nurses  walking  those  corridors  and  wards  all  night 
long.  The  nights  were  no  longer  lonely.  Every 
want  was  attended  to,  every  pain,  if  possible,  as- 
suaged. The  death  rate  was  changed  immediately, 
from  the  moral  effect,  no  doubt,  of  sympathy  and 
woman's  gentle  care.  I  had  seen  some  instances  of 
brutal  treatment  from  surgeons,  possibly  fuddled 
with  drink,  but  there  was  nothing  of  that  after 
Miss  Nightingale  came.  She  immediately  came  into 
friendly  relations  with  the  surgeons,  and  they  coop- 
erated with  her  and  she  with  them  in  the  most 
cordial  manner. 

One  great  reason  of  this  was  her  superior  knowl- 


336  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

edge  and  experience  in  hospital  organization.  She 
had  given  nine  years  to  hospital  work  and  studies, 
had  been  in  the  great  military  hospitals  of  France 
and  Austria  as  well  as  of  England,  and  had  passed 
six  months  with  the  sisters  at  Kaiserswerth,  in  Ger- 
many. Her  clear  views,  her  executive  ability,  her 
'unselfish  and  absolute  devotion  to  her  work,  and 
her  large  experience,  gave  her  a  position  of  peculiar 
power.  She  was  magnificently  provided  with  funds 
from  the  government  and  from  private  sources. 
The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  took  a  deep  interest  in  the 
success  of  her  labors,  and  secured  the  patronage  and 
confidence  of  the  government.  Lord  Stratford  de 
Redcliffe,  the  "Great  Elchi,"  was  clothed  with 
unlimited  power  to  do  anything  he  saw  fit  for  the 
comfort  and  better  administration  of  the  hospital 
and  the  camp.  Florence  Nightingale  had  not  been 
there  a  week  before  the  change  in  the  aspect  of 
things  was  surprising,  and,  together  with  the  arrival 
of  an  additional  medical  force  and  hospital  servants, 
it  soon  became  a  model  hospital,  and  the  death  rate 
was  below  the  average  of  army  hospitals  at  home. 

I  did  not  see  very  much  of  Florence  Nightingale, 
but  saw  a  great  deal  of  her  uncle,  Mr.  Bracebridge 
of  Bracebridge  Hall,  which  Washington  Irving  has 
immortalized.  He  held  her  in  high  esteem  and 
admiration.     I  had   one  talk    of   some   length   with 


THE   SEMINARY. 


337 


her  about  our  missions  in  Turkey.  She  was  glad 
to  know  more  about  them.  She  confessed  she  had 
known  little  more  than  their  existence.  She  was 
delighted  and  surprised  to  know  how  extensive  they 
were,  and  that  we  had  such  a  system  of  education 
and  of  educational  and  religious  literature.  She 
talked  more  sensibly  and  appreciatively  about  our 
work  than  any  English  gentleman  I  had  met  with 
—  I  mean  of  those  the  war  had  brought  in.  She 
seemed  to  me  a  person  in  perfect  health,  but  not  at 
all  of  the  sanguineous  cast ;  graceful  and  agile  in 
form  and  movement,  with  the  light  of  a  high  and 
holy  purpose  pervading  her  whole  personality  — 
simple,  firm,  determined.  I  think  of  her  in  that 
scene  of  disease  and  death  with  the  deepest  interest 
and  admiration. 

Her  coming  was  soon  after  I  had  denounced  the 
bread  contract.  She  knew  nothing  of  that  until  she 
visited  the  hospital  at  Kulelie,  where  my  bread  was 
still  used.  She  expressed  surprise  at  such  excellent 
bread,  so  superior  to  what  she  had  at  the  great  hos- 
pital. Dr.  Tice  told  her  the  whole  story.  She  went 
immediately  to  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe  and 
demanded  that  bread.  He  at  once  ordered  my 
bread  to  be  restored  at  the  advanced  price  of  the 
new  contract.  "The  triumph  of  the  wicked  was 
short."     The  conspiracy  saved   me    every  way,  and 


338  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

into  the  pit  which  they  digged  for  me  they  fell  them- 
selves. Redcliffe  was  filled  with  fiery  indignation, 
when  he  found  what  depredations  had  been  made 
upon  the  treasury  by  these  dishonest  men.  He 
wanted  that  I  should  take  the  entire  supply  of  hos- 
pital, camp,  and  navy  at  Constantinople  upon  myself 
at  my  own  price.  He  expressed  entire  confidence 
in  my  ability  and  honesty  to  do  it  well.  England 
did  not  want  cheap  work,  but  good  and  honest  work. 
For  that  she  was  willing  to  pay  a  high  price.  He 
would  stretch    his   authority  to    make   this    change. 

I  replied,  I  would  never  strike  my  flag.  I  had 
been  providentially  drawn  into  this  great  bread  busi- 
ness while  prosecuting  my  missionary  work.  A 
work  so  vast  and  responsible  as  his  excellency  pro- 
posed would  compel  me  to  leave  my  missionary  serv- 
ice and  residence,  and  pass  over  immediately  to 
Scutari.  I  was  amazed  at  his  excellency's  confi- 
dence in  my  ability  to  manage  it.  His  magnificent 
offer  had  many  attractions,  but  I  felt  myself  wholly 
incompetent  to  grapple  with  it,  and  forbidden,  in 
consequence  of  a  higher  service,  to  attempt  it. 

During  the  first  few  months  of  my  contract,  I  had 
furnished  the  hospital  entirely  from  Bebek,  where  I 
had  two  ovens.  There  was  a  camp  of  the  English 
army  where  new  arrivals  stopped  for  a  while  to 
recover  from  the  sea  voyage  and  get  ready  for  the 


I 
THE   SEMINARY.  339 


front.  It  varied  from  six  to  ten  thousand  men, 
according  to  the  arrivals  and  departures.  The  sani- 
tary state  of  the  camp  was  unsatisfactory.  A  sani- 
tary commission  from  England  reported  many  changes 
to  be  made ;  one  was  that  the  excellent  bread  of 
the  great  hospital  should  be  furnished  to  the  camp 
instead  of  the  very  bad  bread  up  to  that  time  given. 

Commissary  General  Smith  sent  an  orderly  to  say 
he  wanted  to  see  me  as  soon  as  I  could  conveniently 
come.  I  wondered  what  was  up.  When  I  entered 
his  office  next  morning,  he  said  :  — 

"  Now  I  have  a  good  work  for  you.  I  want  you 
to  supply  the  camp  at  Hyder  Pasha  with  that  bread." 

"  How  many  pounds  a  day,  general  1  " 

"  Twelve  thousand  pounds  for  the  present ;  but 
it  will  be  subject  to  great  variations.  It  may  rise 
to  twenty  thousand  pounds,  or  even  more,  and  it 
may  fall  to  eight  thousand  or  ten  thousand." 

**  I  can  do  no  such  thing,  general.  I  have  as 
much  as  my  two  small  ovens  can  produce  for  the 
hospitals  and  general  demand,  and  for  such  a  great 
work  I  should  have  to  build  two  large  ovens  on  the 
ground  with  storage  buildings,  etc.  It  would  take  a 
whole  month  to  get  ready  for   such  a  work." 

He  insisted  that,  whatever  the  cost  might  be,  I 
must  begin  the  work  with  all  possible  dispatch. 
England    would    pay    the    expense.     I    must   do    it. 


340  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

There  was  no  one  else  who  could  make  that  bread. 
The  more  I  plead  off  the  more  earnest  he  was,  and 
I  finally  consented  to  look  around  and  see  what 
I  could  do. 

It  occurred  to  me  that  the  builder  of  the  great 
Selimieh  barracks  must  have  had  a  bakery,  and  I 
would  go  over  to  Scutari  and  see  what  I  could  find. 
In  going  and  looking  round,  I  saw  a  clump  of  old 
half-ruined  buildings  about  a  hundred  paces  back  of 
the  great  hospital,  and  to  my  great  surprise,  they  were 
the  old  bakery  itself.  There  were  two  huge  ovens 
side  by  side,  the  arch  of  one  fallen  in,  the  flooring  of 
both  needing  renewing.  I  found  the  proprietor  and 
made  a  contract  with  him,  at  what  I  considered  a 
most  reasonable  rate,  and  engaged  men  for  all  the 
repairs.  I  fortunately  knew  the  best  oven  builder  in 
the  city,  and  in  three  days  he  had  those  ovens  ready 
for  firing. 

The  heat  must  be  steady,  and  kept  up  night  and 
day  for  seven  days,  according  to  custom.  I  found 
a  large  quantity  of  old  knotty  wood  that  had  been 
left  as  worthless.  It  could  not  be  split.  Putting  old 
boards  on  the  oven  bottom,  this  wood  was  shoved 
in,  and  with  light  and  dry  wood  was  slowly  kindled. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  hours  the  fire  bad  to  be 
smothered.  After  less  than  a  week's  firing  the  ovens 
were  pronounced  ready  for  use.     The  old  kneading 


THE   SEMINARY. 


341 


troughs  were  made  as  good  as  new,  but  considerable 
new  furniture  was  added. 

Mr.  Hagope  Balian  had  just  returned  from  the 
United  States  of  America,  where  he  had  learned 
bread-making  in  Albany  and  in  Boston.  He  was 
engaged  as  chief  baker,  to  his  unbounded  delight. 
He  seemed  to  value  the  honor  more  than  the  emolu- 
ment, although  the  latter  was  at  least  six  times  more 
than  he  had  ever  before  received.  Some  of  my  best 
and  most  experienced  men  from  Bebek  were  associ- 
ated with  him.  I  purchased  to  the  amount  of  one 
thousand  barrels  of  flour,  in  sacks  however,  and 
ordered  three  thousand  barrels  from  Trieste.  I 
should  use  all  along  from  fifty  to  sixty  barrels  a  day, 
and  I  must  keep  not  less  than  five  hundred  barrels 
all  the  time  in  store  by  requisition. 

I  had  my  men  in  hand,  and  I  had  so  far  learned 
the  markets  and  the  industries,  that  the  business  was 
all  accomplished  with  unexpected  ease.  When  all 
was  ready,  I  called  upon  the  commissary  general, 
and  informed  him  that  we  waited  for  a  requisition  of 
the  number  of  loaves.  He  expressed  great  surprise. 
My  thirty  days  had  not  been  ten  !  After  some  re- 
marks about  the  way  Americans  do  things,  and 
condemning  the  English  as  slow  in  comparison,  I  told 
him  of  my  good  fortune  in  having  only  to  repair  and 
not  to  build.     I  made  the  same  protest  against  de- 


342 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 


livering  bread  Sunday  morning,  and  he  quietly  said 
I  must  settle  that  with  the  provost  of  the  camp. 

The  firs.t  delivery  of  the  bread  was  quite  dramatic, 
or  at  least  it  was  quite  interesting.  The  camp  had 
notice  that  new  bread  would  be  served  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  A  train  of  commissary  carts  hav- 
ing eight  thousand  loaves  of  most  excellent  bread 
approached  the  camp,  and  a  long  line  of  men  with 
large  square  baskets  was  ready  to  receive  and  distri- 
bute. The  first  loaves  were  seized,  examined,  smelt  of, 
then  hurled  high  into  the  air  with  ''  Hooray  for  good 
English  bread  !  "  It  gave  immense  satisfaction.  It 
could  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  any  plotters  like 
Rogers  and  Dr.   Menzies. 

The  provost  of  the  camp  did  not  impress  me 
favorably.  He  did  not  have  the  bearing  of  a  gentle- 
man. I  anticipated  trouble  about  the  double  delivery 
on  Saturday.  Towards  sunset  I  just  preceded  the 
train  of  carts  for  the  Sunday  supply.  I  saluted  the 
provost  and  said :  "  On  Saturday  I  deliver  the  supply 
of  bread  for  Sunday  ;  as  at  the  hospital,  so  at  the 
camp." 

He  was  evidently  prepared  for  it,  and  he  blurted 

out,  full  of  passion  :  "  You  will  take  every  d d  loaf 

right  back  and  bring  the  bread  in  the  morning." 

He  evidently  thought  to  frighten  me  by  his  loud 
blasphemy  and  his  threat  to  pitch  every  loaf  into  the 


THE   SEMINARY.  343 

'Marmora  (the  soldiers  sometimes  flung  their  bad 
bread  from  the  cliff  into  the  sea).  I  simply  replied  : 
"  I  leave  you  the  bread  —  eight  thousand  loaves  — 
and  you  can  do  what  you  please  with  it ; "  and  turned 
away  and  left  him  swearing. 

I  knew  I  "  had  him,"  and  he  knew  it,  or  he  would 
have  been  more  sparing  of  his  oaths.  If  he  rejected 
that  bread,  what  would  the  soldiers  do  in  the  morn- 
ing }  He  could  not  possibly  get  a  supply  of  eight 
thousand  loaves  from  the  market.  The  bread  was 
taken,  and  every  cart  brought  back  its  receipt.  The 
next  Saturday  I  sent  a  man  with  the  carts  who  knew 
no  English.  He  thought  the  provost  swore  some, 
but  he  could  not  understand  him.  The  bread  was 
taken,  and  receipts  given.  I  fancy  he  had  received 
some  advice  from  the  Commiss'ary  General  Smith 
or  Potgeiter.  Both  were  gentlemen  of  integrity 
and  honor,  and  all  my  relations  with  them  were 
very  pleasant. 

The  Friday  before  the  third  Saturday  of  the  bread 
delivery,  the  requisition  giving  the  number  in  camp 
had  a  bottom  note  :  ''  Remember  the  double  delivery 
Saturday."  It  was  from  the  same  profane  provost 
of  the  camp,  and  he  kept  that  up  until  the  war  closed, 
and  the  last  soldier  embarked  for  England. 

If  Christian  men  will  stand  conscientiously  firm 
to  the  Sabbath,  they  will  very  rarely  meet  with  any 


344 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


insuperable  obstacles  to  carrying  out  their  deter- 
mination. I  held  the  position  with  perfect  inde- 
pendence, and  I  would  have  immediately  sacrificed 
the  whole  business  if  work  on  the  Sabbath  had  been 
enforced.  The  Jews  are  faithful  to  their  Mosaic 
Sabbath,  and  no  one  ever  expects  them  to  violate  it. 
The  Turkish  government  never  requires  them  to  do 
it.  It  pays  little  regard,  however,  to  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  because  it  knows  that  Christians  will  sacri- 
fice their  sacred  day  to  their  worldly  interests. 

In  the  course  of  the  autumn  of  1855,  there  came 
a  great  stringency  in  the  flour  market.  The  north 
wind  prevailed  for  fifty  days  with  few  interruptions. 
No  sailing  vessel  could  get  through  the  Dardanelles. 
There  were  no  tug  boats  to  bring  them  through. 
An  immense  fleet  was  waiting  for  a  south  wind. 
Not  only  did  flour  rise  to  a  ruinous  price,  but  good 
white  flour  was  not  attainable.  I  could  not  keep  up 
the  quality  of  the  bread,  and  I  offered  to  renounce 
the  contract  and  pay  the  penalty. 

The  commissary  general  saw  the  condition  of 
things,  and  said :  "  Hold  on  till  the  south  wind 
blows." 

A  puff  came,  and  one  Austrian  vessel  having  three 
hundred  barrels  on  board  got  through.  When  it 
was  landed  at  the  Galata  customhouse,  I  was 
offered   four   pounds    sterling,  $20,  cash    down,   for 


THE  SEMINARY, 


345 


every  barrel  of  it.  It  had  cost  me  about  ^lo.  I 
let  the  English  commissariat  have  one  hundred 
barrels,  and  the  remaining  two  hundred  restored  the 
bread  until  at  length  the  south  wind  blew,  and  more 
than  five  hundred  white-winged  messengers  came 
crowding  up  the  Marmora  into  the  spacious  port  of 
Constantinople.  The  price  of  flour  instantly  fell  to 
its  former  rate.  One  of  my  friends  kept  a  large 
quantity  for  another  great  rise  which  never  came, 
and  he  finally  sold  at  a  serious  loss.  The  losses  by 
speculation  exceeded  the  gains,  among  those  with 
whom  I  was  acquainted. 

The  coffee  episode  must  not  be  passed  over.  I 
was  in  General  Potgeiter's  office  one  Saturday  after- 
noon, when  I  always  visited  the  great  bakery,  and  I 
saw  some  small  glass  jars  on  the  mantel  with  speci- 
mens of  ground  coffee.  I  made  the  remark  that  I 
hoped  no  coffee  of  those  shades  was  used  by  the 
commissariat.  *'  Yes,"  he  replied,  '*  this  shade  is 
our  standard."  After  some  discussion,  in  which  I 
offered  to  prove  to  his  satisfaction  that  coffee  roasted 
to  that  shade  had  not  developed  its  strength  or  flavor, 
we  adjourned  the  discussion  for  the  test.  The  next 
Monday,  it  was  made  in  his  office,  and  he  acknowl- 
edged the  surprising  difference,  but  wanted  a  few 
pounds  furnished  for  his  own  use.  He  became  so 
convinced   of    the   thorough    badness    of    the    con- 


346  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

tractors'  coffee,  that  he  wanted  a  hundred  sacks  pre- 
pared for  the  great  hospital. 

I  purchased  the  coffee,  and  put  it  all  into  the 
hands  of  a  Protestant  Armenian  whom  I  wished  to 
aid.  It  was  done  under  my  supervision  sufficiently 
to  insure  the  desired  result.  It  was  declared  impos- 
sible to  grind  roasted  coffee  in  a  flour  mill.  But,  by 
taking  off  the  casing  from  the  upper  millstone,  and 
with  a  broom  sweeping  away  the  coffee  so  that  it 
should  not  pile  up  against  the  stone,  it  never  packed 
or  lifted  the  stone  in  the  least,  and  ten  bushels  an 
hour  would  run  easily  through  and  be  well  ground. 

The  coffee  was  roasted  with  great  skill  by  two 
Turkish  government  specialists  in  the  art.  It  gave 
immense  satisfaction.  The  Armenian  cleared  ;^400 
upon  it  —  a  large  sum  for  a  week's  work,  and  the 
old  contractor  had  to  lose  his  contract  or  conform  to 
that  coffee.  He  came  most  humbly  to  me  to  save 
him,  and  I  gave  him  full  and  accurate  instructions. 

This  excellent  coffee  made  considerable  excite- 
ment in  the  commissariat.  The  army  at  the  front 
sent  a  fierce  complaint  that  the  raw  coffee  bean  was 
furnished,  and  generally  soldiers  could  not  get  fuel 
to  roast  it. 

Commissary  General  Smith  said  I  must  supply  the 
army.  The  terms  were  so  liberal  it  must  give  a  very 
large  profit.     Such  coffee  would  be  a  great  boon  to 


THE  SEMINARY. 


347 


the  army.  I  was  the  only  man  to  whom  he  could 
entrust  it.  My  experiment  and  my  experience  were 
all  he  could  desire.  I  might  give  all  the  profits  if  I 
chose  to  the  missionary  work,  but  I  could  not  fail 
to  make  large  profits;  etc. 

I  was  finally  so  far  persuaded  that  I  told  him  I 
would  look  into  the  coffee  market,  and  if  I  could 
purchase  at  once  a  four  months'  supply  of  good  cof- 
fee without  exciting  the  market,  I  would  set  the  ball 
in  motion.  I  saw  that,  allowing  thirty  per  cent  for 
unforeseen  contingencies  (some  of  them  would  be 
tin  for  the  cans),  I  could  not  fail  of  making  ;^75,ooo 
on  the  purchase.  If  it  should  agitate  the  market, 
four  months  would  give  it  time  to  become  quiet 
again. 

I  called  upon  the  chief  coffee  merchants,  and  told 
them  I  thought  of  taking  a  commissary  contract. 
They  eagerly  told  me  how  many  thousand  sacks 
they  could  furnish  and  at  what  price.  I  asked  the 
refusal  till  Monday,  which  was  readily  granted.  I 
made  a  conditional  contract  for  a  mill  of  three  pairs 
of  stones,  at  Geuksou,  with  a  Catholic  Armenian. 
He  tried  to  catch  me  and  bind  me,  whether  I  should 
have  the  contract  or  not.  I  knew  him  to  be  a  fraud, 
and  I  did  not  fall  into  his  hands.  The  supply  of  tin 
in  the  hands  of  Jewish  merchants  was  enormous, 
and  would  not  be  affected  by  what  a  score  or  two  of 


348  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

tinmen  could  do  in  turning  out  a  few  thousand  twenty- 
five-pound  cans.  I  determined  to  have  the  whole  lot 
dispatched  to  the  front  in  three  or  four  weeks. 

Monday  morning  an  orderly  came  early.  "  General 
Smith  wants  to  see  you  at  once." 

His  salutation  at  the  office  was  :  "■  Mr.  HamUn, 
have  you  purchased  that  coffee  .^  " 

"  Only  conditionally,  sir.  I  have  the  refusal  of  it 
till  to-day." 

"Very  well;  it  will  all  come  right,"  he  said  with  a 
look  of  great  relief.  "  A  large  steamer  freighted 
with  prepared  coffee  is  on  the  way  from  Liverpool. 
I  have  only  just  received  the  notice,  and  we  have 
escaped  a  great  embarrassment." 

So  ended  the  great  coffee  contract,  and  the  vision 
of  money  to  build  a  score  of  churches.  Until  the 
bubble  burst,  it  seemed  the  rarest  opportunity  to  con- 
fer a  great  blessing  and  receive  a  magnificent  com- 
pensation which  the  war  offered. 

As  soon  as  it  became  apparent  that  I  should  have 
some  profit  from  the  great  bread  business,  the  anxiety 
of  Dr.  Dwight  and  myself  about  the  debt  on  the 
Brousa  church  was  relieved.  Our  first  church  was 
destroyed  by  an  earthquake  before  it  was  quite  fin- 
ished. We  had  become  personally  responsible,  and 
had  obtained  very  little  aid  from  England  and  Amer- 
ica.    Dr.  Dwight  was  conscientiously  opposed  to  all 


THE   SEMINARY. 


349 


my  industries,  as  was  Dr.  Anderson,  but  he  con- 
fessed one  great  good  would  result  from  them,  if  I 
could  clear  off  that  debt.  The  whole  story  of  that 
church  building  is  found  in  "  Among  the  Turks," 
chapter  xvi. 

But  the  first  church  I  started  upon  was  at  Rodosto, 
on  the  northern  side  of  the  Marmora.  While  we 
were  in  station  meeting,  two  brethren  of  the  church 
in  that  place  presented  themselves  in  great  distress. 
The  rented  house  and  grounds  of  the  pastor  and  of 
the  chapel,  belonging  to  a  Turk,  were  to  be  sold  right 
off.  Unless  we  could  purchase  them,  ruin  impended 
to  the  whole  church.  Armenians  and  Greeks  would 
not  rent  them  a  house,  and  there  was  no  other  Turk- 
ish house  to  be  obtained.  The  station  had  no  funds 
and  could  not  help  them.  I  felt  sure  it  would  be 
safe  for  me  to  help  them,  for  I  had  paid  Mr.  Ede  in 
full,  interest  and  all.  I  stepped  into  the  office  of  Dr. 
Paspati  —  a  lifelong  friend  of  mine  —  and  borrowed 
the  money,  and  the  men  went  on  their  way  rejoicing. 
The  church  was  saved  from  an  impending  danger.  I 
felt  the  Lord  had  sealed  my  labors  with  his  approba- 
tion.    I  hoped  Dr.  Anderson  would  add  his. 

The  rebuilding  of  Brousa  church  (1853-54)  was  a 
work  of  many  perplexities.  Slight  earthquakes  were 
very  frequent  after  its  destruction.  I  enjoyed  three 
in  one  night.     They  were  gentle  earthquakes,  if  any- 


350  ^^y  LIFE  ^^D    TIMES. 

thing  can  be  called  gentle  which  makes  the  solid 
earth  move  with  a  groan,  however  slight.  What 
could  I  do  in  such  a  case  ?  Most  of  the  church 
members  had  fled,  and  no  one  believed  in  any 
rebuilding  for  many  months.  I  resolved  to  do  it 
immediately,  and  call  back  the  "  dispersers." 

An  idea  of  a  building  earthquake-proof,  by  an 
internal  skeleton  of  oak  and  iron,  flashed  into  my 
mind  of  itself,  and  upon  that  idea  the  church  was 
constructed.  Whence  come  these  sudden  visions? 
They  seem  to  be  perfect  of  themselves  ;  they  are 
not  elaborated  by  thought.  They  are  like  inspira- 
tions from  without. 

When  the  church  was  approaching  the  time  to 
receive  its  windows,  I  began  to  build  the  enclosing 
wall,  between  the  church  and  our  Armenian  neigh- 
bor   A ,     as     otherwise    the    hoodlums     would 

break  every  pane  of  glass.  The  old  wall  had  been 
nearly  destroyed,  and  I  had  tried  to  rebuild  it  from 

the  first   foundation.     A ,  put    up   to   it   by  the 

bishop,  claimed  the  wall  entire  as  his  own,  and  go 
an  interdict  upon  my  rebuilding  it.  Everyone  knew 
that  his  claim  was  false,  for  the  remains  of  the  wall 
had  indubitable  proofs  of  its  ownership.  The  case 
had  been  repeatedly  tried  and  appealed  from  court 
to  court,  the  decision  always  being  against  the 
church.     At   length  I  called  upon  the  chief  Arme- 


Alexander  Djejizian. 

(Pastor  of  church   at  Adabazar.     Graduate  of   Bebek   Seminary.     See 

Appendix.) 


THE   SEMINARY. 


351 


nian  banker  of  the  place  —  a  man  whose  life  had 
been  saved  by  Dr.  Grant  at  Mosul,  and  asked  him 

to  advise  A to  a  compromise,  for  he  wished  to 

sell  his  land,  and  could  never  do  it  while  under  liti- 
gation. This  was  most  skillfully  and  dispatchfully 
accomplished.  I  bought  the  portion  in  dispute,  and 
left  the  chief  justice  out  in  the  cold.  He  had  offered 
to  give  me  the  case  for  fifteen  hundred  piastres.^ 
This  sudden  and  friendly  termination  amused  the 
public  generally.  They  are  always  glad  to  see  a 
judge  "left  out." 

The  building  of  this  church  called  back  those  who 
had  fled  to  other  places,  and  so  encouraged  the  little 
flock  that  a  new  period  of  life  and  growth  set  in. 
Dr.  Anderson's  concern  about  our  making  too  much 
of  church  building,  as  expressed  in  his  Lectures  on 
Missions  (pages  292-93)  is  simply  amazing.  Almost 
thirty-eight  years  have  now  passed  (i 854-1 892),  and 
the  church  has  proved  a  priceless  blessing.  I  recall 
with  much  interest  my  relations  with  the  Brousa 
church  and  people.  The  journeys  back  and  forth, 
occasionally  in  furious  storms,  generally  in  perfect 
weather,  my  four  visits  to  the  summit  of  the  Bithyn- 
ian  Olympus,  with  beloved  and  remembered  friends, 
all  crowd  upon  me,  but  cannot  be  recorded. 

During   the    war,    about    eight    hundred    Russian 

1  See  Among  the  Turks  pp.  251  ff. 


352 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


prisoners  were  sent  down  for  the  English  Commis- 
sary General  Smith  to  provide  for.  General  Smith 
sent  for  me,  showed  me  the  schedule  of  the  rations 
to  be  furnished  them,  and  requested  me  to  contract 
for  the  supply.  I  positively  declined,  telling  him 
that  I  should  do  nothing  further  than  provide  them 
with  bread.  He  urged  the  point  very  strongly,  say- 
ing that  if  an  Englishman  should  furnish  the  sup- 
plies, he  would  be  accused  of  every  injustice,  fraud, 
and  cruelty ;  but  if  an  American  should  furnish 
them,  it  would  be  all  right.  He  urged  it,  finally,  as 
a  personal  favor  to  himself,  that  I  would  accept  his 
proposition.  He  had  been  so  kind  and  gentlemanly 
in  all  his  intercourse  with  me  that  this  put  me  in  a 
very  tight  place.  I  however  proposed  to  place  the 
whole  matter  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Minasian,  and 
offered  to  become  one  of  his  sureties  for  the  faithful 
performance  of  the  contract. 

"What  other  surety  could  he  give.-*"  asked  the 
general,  as  two  were  always  required. 

"  Mr.  Schneider,  the  German  merchant,  Mr.  Han- 
son, or  Mr.  Ede,  whichever  you  may  choose,"  I 
replied. 

"Very  well,"  he  said;  "but  I  will  consider  him 
your  alter  idem!' 

And  so  the  contract  was  made,  in  very  generous 
terms. 


THE   SEMINARY. 


353 


Before  their  removal  to  the  island  of  Proti,  I  went 
to  view  them  on  parade  at  Kulelie.  It  was  to  me  an 
interesting  and  marvelous  sight.  I  walked  along  in 
front  of  the  first  line,  just  in  rear  of  the  officers,  and 
occasionally  stopped  to  view  the  men  more  particu- 
larly. In  appearance  they  were  strong,  solid,  and 
stolid.  They  seemed  to  have  large  heads,  good 
square  faces,  and  great  animal  force  ;  but  with  little 
appearance  of  intellectual  life,  or  capability  of  en- 
thusiasm. They  were  machines  ;  their  movements 
were  the  movements  of  machines.  They  were 
warmly  clad,  and  looked  as  though  Russia  had 
suitable  regard  for  the  health  and  comfort  of  her 
soldiers.  They  were  all  removed  to  very  pleasant 
quarters  in  the  island  of  Proti. 

One  of  the  officers,  a  colonel,  claimed  personal 
acquaintance  with  every  American  missionary  in 
Turkey.  He  had  visited  them  as  a  traveler  and  a 
German  savant,  some  three  years  before  the  war. 
I  remembered  his  visit  perfectly  well,  but  had  had 
no  suspicion  of  his  being  a  Russian.  He  was  a 
German  by  birth,  but  a  Russian  spy  on  our  labors. 
Nicholas  had  a  better  acquaintance  with  our  mis- 
sions in  Turkey  than  any  man,  except  Dr.  Anderson. 
Mr.  Layard  declared,  in  his  place  in  Parliament,  that 
one  great  reason  which  the  Emperor  Nicholas  had  in 
hastening  the  Crimean  war  was  to  abolish  Protest- 


354 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


ant  missions  in  Turkey.  The  Honorable  George  P. 
Marsh,  our  minister  resident  to  the  Sublime  Porte, 
declared,  in  a  letter  to  the  secretaries,  his  full  acquies- 
cence in  Mr.  Layard's  opinion. ^ 

The  prisoners  at  Proti  were  very  quiet  and  easily 
managed.  It  was  quite  amusing,  however,  that  their 
first  complaint  was  against  my  excellent  white  bread 
and  the  fresh  meat  and  fresh  vegetables  that  were 
furnished  them.  The  men  and  officers  proposed  a 
new  schedule  of  rations,  substituting  black  bread, 
salt  fish,  beans,  and  olive  oil,  instead  of  the  articles 
which  they  named.  Mr.  Minasian  brought  the 
schedule  to  me,  and  said  that  he  could  furnish  the 
schedule  of  rations  at  twenty  per  cent  discount. 

"Ah!"  said  the  general  when  I  made  the  pro- 
posal to  him,  "your  wily  Armenian  is  getting  up 
these  changes  for  his  own  profit !  I  will  never  be- 
lieve that  they  originated  with  the  prisoners." 

I  replied  :  "  General,  you  can  easily  ascertain  that 
by  sending  a  requisition  for  a  colonel,  captain,  and 
as  many  men  as  you  choose,  to  come  to  your  office, 
and  state  the  case  for  themselves." 

He  did  so,  and  the  colonel  greatly  amused  him  in 
describing  the  rations  of  the  Russian  army.  He 
said  the  soldiers  always  had  black  bread  at  home, 
and  they  would    eat  no    other.     They   loathed   this 

1  Dr.  Alden,  in  Annual  Report,  1882,  note  to  page  i,  Necrology. 


THE   SEMINARY. 


355 


white  bread.  They  had  a  great  deal  of  salt  fish, 
and  they  used  great  quantities  of  beans,  cooked  with 
oil  or  fat,  and  these  articles  they  must  have.  The 
changes  were  made,  and  gave  perfect  satisfaction. 
The  general,  however,  refused  to  change  the  price 
of  the  rations,  as  that  would  bring  suspicion  upon 
the  government.  So  Mr.  Minasian  was  forced  to 
receive  twenty  per  cent  more  than  he  asked  for. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  they  departed,  with  little 
manifestation  of  feeling ;  for  it  was  not  to  homes 
but  to  barracks  that  they  were  returning. 

The  battle  of  Inkerman,  in  November,  1854, 
brought  upon  me  a  new  industry.  Looking  out  of 
my  study  window,  some  two  weeks  after  the  battle, 
I  saw  an  enormous  steamer  anchored  at  the  Kulelie 
hospital,  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Bosphorus.  I 
recognized  it  at  once  as  the  Himalaya,  the  largest 
transport  steamer  in  the  British  service. 

I  had  formed  a  transient,  but  singular  and  rather 
pleasant,  acquaintance  with  the  chief  engineer  of 
this  great  steamer.  I  went  over  immediately  to  see 
what  he  had  brought  from  Inkerman.  He  told 
me  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  wounded  and 
sick  had  just  been  carried  into  the  hospital;  only 
two  or  three  Russian  wounded  remained,  who  were 
waiting  for  the  hospital  servants  to  come  with 
stretchers  to  carry  them  in.     It  was  a  cloudy,  chilly 


356  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

day,  with  a  stiff  north  wind  from  the  Black  Sea. 
The  poor  wounded  men  were  shivering  in  their 
blankets  :  and  I  said  to  a  soldier :  "■  Let  us  place 
them  upon  the  stretchers,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  be 
carried  in."  I  took  hold  of  the  blanket  on  one  side, 
and  found  that  half  of  a  good  solid  Russian  was  as 
much  as  I  wished  to  lift.  The  soldier  said  to  me  : 
"  You  had  better  look  to  your  gloves,  sir  !  These 
blankets  are  full  of  Crimean  lice  !  "  To  my  amaze- 
ment, I  picked  off  eleven  from  my  gloves,  such 
monsters  as  I  had  never  seen  ! 

I  then  went  into  the  hospital,  to  see  the  condi- 
tion of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  wounded  and  sick. 
I  found  them  deplorably  destitute  of  underclothing 
and  covering.  They  said,  in  answer  to  my  ques- 
tions, that  their  clothing  was  so  loaded  with  vermin 
that  they  preferred  to  suffer  from  the  cold  rather 
than  from  the  vermin.  They  said  they  had  had 
no  washing  done  for  six  months.  "Why  didn't 
you  do  your  own  washing.'*"  I  said.  ''For  two 
slight  reasons,"  was  the  reply :  '*  we  had  no  wood  and 
no  water.  We  were  lucky  to  get  wood  and  water 
enough  for  our  coffee  !  " 

I  went  immediately  to  Dr.  O'Connor,  the  chief 
physician,  to  ask  him  why  washing  was  not  done 
for  those  poor  men  ;  for  I  found  that  patients  who 
had  been  there  for  two  weeks  were  equally  destitute. 


THE   SEMINARY. 


357 


He  replied  that  the  Greek  women  only  pounded 
the  clothes  in  the  salt  water  of  the  Bosphorus,  and 
brought  them  back  damp,  which  killed  the  men 
quicker  than  anything  else.  And  besides,  the  clothes 
were  so  filthy  they  could  not  be  cleansed  ;  and  they 
were  building  a  great  chimney  and  furnace  to  con- 
sume them  all.  I  protested  that  there  were  scores 
of  unemployed  women,  who,  under  proper  direction, 
would  do  the  work  perfectly  well  ;  and  the  clothing 
might  all  be  saved.  He  told  me,  with  great  inso- 
lence, that  every  man  had  better  mind  his  own 
business  !  I  thought  in  such  a  scene  of  suffering, 
with  such  an  inhuman  overseer,  it  was  my  "  own 
business"  to  mitigate  it. 

Passing  in  front  of  the  barrack,  I  met  a  soldier. 
"  Can  you  tell  me  where  I  can  find  the  sergeant 
of  the  clothing  } " 

**  I  am  the  sergeant  of  the  clothing." 

*'  Then  you  are  the  man  I  want.  Let  me  see  all 
you  have." 

He  opened  a  great  hall,  with  clothing  piled  up, 
I  should  think,  for  a  thousand  men. 

**  But  why  don't  you  ventilate  this  place  }  You  '11 
have  the  plague  !  " 

"There  is  a  great  window,  sir,  taken  out." 

It  was  even  so.  There  were  beds  and  bedding, 
and  clothes  of  every  kind,  taken  from  the  wounded 


358  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

and  the  dead,  with  all  possible  abominations,  and 
incredibly  full  of  vermin  !  If  anything  could  make 
war  utterly  accursed,  it  would  be  the  Crimean  lice  ! 
They  are  large,  fat,  disgusting,  overgrown,  hellish' 
looking  creatures  !  I  have  tried  their  bite,  person- 
ally, and  found  it  irritating,  maddening,  in  the  ex- 
treme. Each  puncture  is  surrounded  by  an  intensely 
red  inflammation,  with  an  intolerable  burning  itch, 
which  nothing  but  ammonia,  as  strong  as  can  be 
safely  used,  will  allay.  I  have  no  doubt  they  killed 
more  English  soldiers  than  all  the  Russian  bullets. 
The  effect  of  their  ravages  upon  those  who  survived 
was  interesting  and  peculiar.  Nature  threw  up  her 
defenses  in  the  best  way  she  could,  the  skin,  after 
a  while,  becoming  thickened,  dead,  and  corky  in 
appearance.  The  tissue  having  thus  lost  its  sensi- 
tiveness, the  suffering  was  diminished. 

The  sergeant  told  me  that,  despairing  of  washing 
the  clothing,  they  had  built  a  place  for  burning  it : 
and  he  showed  me  the  furnace,  with  a  tall,  rude 
chimney,  at  the  back  of  the  grounds.  How  much 
they  consumed  I  know  not.  He  said  the  author- 
ities at  Scutari  could  neither  provide  the  men  with 
new,  nor  secure  the  washing  of  the  old,  clothing. 

I  went  immediately  to  Scutari,  and  made  known 
the  state  of  things,  the  conduct  of  O'Connor,  and 
the  perfect  ease  with  which  the  want  could  be  sup- 


THE   SEMINARY. 


359 


plied,  there  being  thousands  of  women  —  Armenian, 
Greek,  Turkish  —  in  the  Bosphorus  villages  who 
would  be  glad  of  the  work. 

Mr.  Parker,  the  chief  purveyor  of  the  great  hos- 
pital, said  he  found  it  next  to  impossible  to  get 
the  washing  well  done  for  the  five  thousand  under 
his  care ;  and  if  I  could  do  anything  for  Kulelie 
it  would  be  the  greatest  possible  favor.  I  asked 
for  no  contract  and  no  price.  I  was  determined 
to  do  the  work,  and  change  the  aspect  of  things 
in  Kulelie.  My  doing  it  in  spite  of  Dr.  O'Connor 
may  have  added  to  the  zest  of  rescuing  the  suf- 
ferers. 

On  returning  to  Bebek,  I  met  the  Armenian 
kehyaJi  (head  man)  and  told  him  what  I  wanted. 

"I  have  just  the  place  for  you,"  he  said:  "a 
tumble-down  house,  but  with  a  large  garden  excellent 
for  drying  purposes,  a  huge  kitchen,  and  an  unfailing 
supply  of  water,  right  in  the  kitchen  itself." 

I  examined,  and  hired  it  at  a  reasonable  price, 
monthly,  so  long  as  I  should  want  it.  I  never  under- 
took to  do  anything  that  went  so  glibly.  Usually 
the  obstacles  to  a  work  require  more  time  than  the 
work  itself. 

In  a  very  few  days  two  large  copper  kettles  were 
set  in  masonry,  so  as  to  deliver  the  hot  water  through 
twenty-two  faucets,  into  twenty-two  washing  places. 


360  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

A  large  pump  delivered  the  water  into  the  kettles  or 
cold-water  tubs,  lines  were  stretched  in  the  garden, 
to  the  amount  of  nearly  half  a  mile,  a  small  sloop-load 
of  dry  wood  was  most  fortunately  obtained,  and  two 
capable  men  employed  to  oversee  the  whole  —  one 
the  work  at  the  laundry,  the  other  the  transporta- 
tion from  and  to  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Bosphorus. 
Twenty-two  women,  Greek  and  Armenian,  were  en- 
gaged, and  eager  for  the  work.  I  made  satisfactory 
arrangements  with  them  all,  intending  to  charge 
every  expense  to  the  British  government,  and  let 
it  go  at  that  —  everybody  assured  me  that  red  tape 
would  make  the  payment  impracticable. 

While  I  was  hearing  a  class,  the  overseer  burst 
into  the  recitation  room  in  great  excitement,  saying, 
"  O  sir !  come  quickly !  the  mob  will  tear  down  the 
establishment,  and  the  women  have  all  fled  ! " 

The  truth  was,  the  clothes  were  so  filthy,  disgust- 
ing:, and  loaded  with  vermin,  that  the  women  feared 
to  touch  them,  and  declared  they  would  never  enter 
the  place  again.  About  three  thousand  articles  had 
been  brought  over,  in  large  bundles,  and  opened  in  the 
court,  and  the  offensive  odor  had  gone  up  into  the 
windows  of  the  houses  on  that  side.  The  people, 
naturally  excited,  were  assembling  in  angry  haste. 
Here  was  trouble  all  around  !  I  told  the  people 
their  complaints  were   reasonable,   and   the    clothes 


THE   SEMINARY. 


361 


should  be  immediately  removed  to  the  magazine  on 
the  other  side ;  but  if  they  made  trouble,  I  should 
immediately  send  for  a  guard  of  English  soldiers, 
and  they  would  have  the  pleasure  of  dealing  with 
them.     The  people  became  quiet  and  departed. 

What  was  I  to  do }  I  was  certainly  in  a  fix.  I 
could  not  blame  the  women  or   the  people. 

A  thought  struck  me.  It  came  of  itself — a  com- 
plete idea  of  one  of  the  empty  oak  beer-casks  lying 
at  Kulelie,  changed  into  a  washing  machine.  I  sent 
for  my  best  workman,  Pandazee,  to  come,  with 
another  man,  to  work  all  night,  if  need  be.  The 
malicious  O'Connor  would  not  let  me  have  a  cask 
without  an  order  from  Scutari,  which  cost  me  three 
hours'  time  to  get.  But  the  next  morning,  about 
nine  o'clock,  the  machine  was  ready,  and  on  the 
ground.  A  few  women  sullenly  came,  after  much 
persuasion,  to  see  it  tried.  I  must  produce  a  sur- 
prising effect  on  the  first  trial ;  and  a  large  quantity 
of  melted  soap  had  been  put  unnoticed  into  the 
barrel.  I  took  up  the  articles  with  tongs,  and  put 
them  in,  let  on  the  water,  and  told  the  man  to  work 
the  brake  twenty  minutes.  Five  or  six  minutes  were 
found  to  be  quite  enough.  The  water  ran  off  with 
a  filthy,  muddy  color.  Pure  water  was  let  in,  till, 
after  rinsing,  it  came  away  pure.  The  articles  were 
taken  out  transformed ! 


362  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

The  women  had  no  objections  to  the  finishing 
work.  The  twenty-two  women  returned,  more  ma- 
chines were  made,  and  the  work  went  on  merrily, 
without  further  care.  The  bodies  of  the  vermin 
Hned  the  channel  through  which  the  waste  water 
flowed,  and  yet  so  many  were  entangled  in  the  furze 
of  woolen  articles  that  they  all  had  to  be  brushed 
with  stiff  brushes.  But  what  surprised  me  most  was 
that  the  boiling  water  did  not  destroy  the  vitality 
of  the  eggs  deposited  by  the  million  on  the  flannels. 
There  were  patches  of  these,  sometimes  as  large  as 
the  hand ;  and  we  had  to  employ  brushes  made  of 
fine  brass  wire.  I  found  these  by  accident  in  Galata, 
and  the  owner  himself  did  not  know  what  they  were 
made  for.  He  had  them  by  accident.  They  did  our 
work  effectively.  As  soon  as  a  complete  set  of  all 
articles  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  could  be  pre- 
pared they  were  sent  over,  and  produced  both  joy 
and  comfort. 

Dr.  O'Connor  was  removed.  I  think  he  was  a 
brutal,  unfeeling  wretch,  and  cared  nothing  for  the 
sick  and  wounded.  Dr.  Tice,  a  gentleman,  came  in 
his  place,  and  he  ordered  the  men  to  change  twice 
a  week. 

In  good  weather  for  drying,  with  a  force  of  thirty 
persons  and  six  washing  machines,  three  thousand 
articles  were  sometimes  />ut  through  in  one  day.     In 


THE   SEMINARY.  x^x 

rainy  weather,  packages  of  one  hundred  each  were 
given  out  to  many  houses  in  Bebek  and  neighbor- 
hood, and  thus,  although  the  sick  and  wounded,  with 
the  hospital  force,  amounted  finally  to  eight  hundred, 
the  laundry  always  kept  ahead  of  the  demand,  so  as  to 
work  off  and  save  all  the  stuff  that  had  been  brought 
down  from  the  Crimea.  It  was  a  long  time  before 
the  whole  hospital  could  be  cleansed  of  every  sign  of 
vermin.  Every  bed  had  to  be  turned  out  and  worked 
over,  but  in  the  end  the  Crimean  enemy  was  utterly 
subdued. 

The  women  in  the  laundry,  working  by  the  piece, 
and  aided  by  the  washing  machines,  earned  from 
thirty  dollars  to  forty-five  dollars  per  month,  a  sum 
never  dreamed  of  as  possible  by  them  ;  and  the  com- 
fort it  diffused  in  their  poor  homes  was  one  of  the 
richest  rewards  of  the  work.  There  was  not  a  house 
I  had  not  visited  in  sickness,  and  they  were  as  ready 
to  acknowledge,  as  I  to  notice,  the  change. 

In  due  time  I  went  to  Mr.  Parker  with  the 
accounts.  What  had  been  expended  for  getting  up 
the  works  was  paid,  without  any  questions  or  exam- 
ination of  particulars.  The  washed  articles  had  all 
to  be  separated  into  three  categories,  and  paid  for 
at  the  rate  of  seventy-five  cents  per  dozen  for  the 
larger  articles,  fifty  cents  for  medium,  and  thirty- 
seven  and  one-half  for  small  articles. 


364  M^  ^-^^'-^  ^^^    TIMES. 

I  am  glad  to  testify  that  in  all  my  relations  with 
the  British  army  I  never  personally  encountered 
what  was  so  much  decried  —  red  tape.  I  do  not 
question  its  existence,  but  I  think  my  services  were 
looked  upon  as  rather  exceptional,  and  treated  ac- 
cordingly. With  the  three  exceptions  of  Menzies 
and  O'Connor  and  the  provost  of  the  camp,  all  the 
gentlemen  of  the  British  army  with  whom  I  had  any 
relations  were,  to  use  an  English  phrase,  *'  the  soul 
of  honor";  and  by  this  I  mean  just,  kind,  and 
prompt. 

At  the  rate  of  pay  above  mentioned  there  would 
evidently  result  a  profit.  What  should  be  done  with 
it }  The  poor  little  church  at  Bardezag  was  in  great 
need  of  a  church  building.  I  proposed  to  wash  out 
one  for  them.  As  the  great  bread  business  de- 
manded some  of  my  leisure  time,  and  as  I  was 
rebuilding  a  church  destroyed  by  earthquake  at 
Brousa,  Mr.  Minasian,  always  ready  for  every  good 
work,  kindly  offered  to  look  after  the  laundry  in  my 
absence  about  the  building  of  this  church.  Without 
such  partnership  I  could  not  have  accomplished  it. 
It  cost  nearly  ^3,000,  and  yet  I  built  it  entirely  out 
of  an  English  beer  barrel  1 

During  this  work,  a  stolid-looking,  strong,  poorly- 
clad  young  man  came  to  beg  employment.  I  did 
not  think  he  had  intelligence  enough  to  make  a  use- 


THE   SEMINARY.  365 

ful  workman,  and  presumed  he  would  be  a  nuisance. 
I  soon  found  that  he  was  not  only  strong,  but  that 
he  did  carefully  and  faithfully  whatever  I  gave  him 
to  do.  Quiet,  unassuming,  retiring,  indefatigable, 
competent  to  every  duty  with  which  he  was  entrusted, 
his  value  forced  itself  upon  me  in  spite  of  his 
looks.  There  was  nothing  mechanical  which,  after 
seeing  me  do  it  once,  he  could  not  do  better.  He 
has  been  the  very  useful  steward  of  the  college  from 
the  beginning,  was  my  right-hand  man  in  erecting 
the  buildings,  and  has  never  been  known  to  be 
faithless  to  a  trust,  or  to  flinch  from  the  most  ardu- 
ous duties,  day  or  night. 

Mr.  Williams  had  in  the  meantime  returned  to 
Constantinople  from  Malta.  He  had  a  large  family, 
and  was  in  absolute  destitution.  I  gave  the  laundry 
over  to  him  to  make  what  he  could  out  of  it,  and  it 
soon  placed  him,  for  the  time,  in  circumstances  of 
comfort. 

I  am  told  that  my  dear  college  friend.  Dr.  Bartol, 
has  humorously  assigned  to  me  sixteen  professions. 
I  have  never  seen  the  list  which  his  brilliant  imagi- 
nation has  produced,  but  I  presume  he  did  7iot 
include  what  I  am  most  proud  of — the  profession 
of  a  washerwoman  ! 

One  stormy  day  in  the  winter  of  1855,  a  messen- 
ger came  with  the  terrible  news  that    the   cholera, 


;66  MY  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 

which  had  been  sporadic  rather  than  epidemic  at 
Scutari,  had  reached  our  men.  Two  were  dead,  five 
were  sick,  all  had  stopped  work  in  panic.  The  ten 
thousand  pounds  of  bread  required  from  those  two 
ovens  could  not  be  delivered  on  the  following 
morning. 

I  took  a  carpet  bag  of  medicines  and  started 
immediately  for  Scutari,  sending  the  man  to  the 
bakers'  market  place  to  engage  half  a  dozen  men  at 
any  price,  and  get  them  carried  over  in  the  English 
messenger  steamer.  He  could  get  them  there  for 
night  work.  I  must  go  direct  and  speedily,  for 
cholera  does  n't  wait  or  lag  in  doing  its  work.  No 
caique  could  be  persuaded  to  set  me  across  the 
Bosphorus  to  the  Asiatic  side.  A  fierce  south  wind 
was  fretting  the  waters  into  foamy  waves,  and  the 
light  caiques  would  not  venture  out.  No  entreaties, 
no  offers  of  reward  had  any  effect  upon  the  men, 
who  had  never  refused  before. 

Just  then  a  Scutari  boat,  manned  with  two  power- 
ful men,  put  in  to  escape  the  storm.  For  ninety 
piastres,  nearly  twenty  times'  the  legal  price,  they 
engaged  to  put  me  over.  The  Scutari  boatmen  are 
famed  for  skill  and  boldness  in  these  southern 
storms.  I  have  never  seen  a  finer  contest  of  human 
strength  and  skill  with  the  forces  of  nature.  We 
had  to  go  in  the  trough  of  the    sea,  but    the   light 


THE   SEMINARY.  367 

catque  would  turn  quickly  its  sharp  bows  into  every 
toppling  wave,  and  its  foam  would  go  hissing  by  as 
we  rode  over  it  or  through  it,  and  so  we  gained  the 
Asiatic  shore  in  safety. 

Our  courage  comes  from  circumstances.  I  am 
naturally  timid,  and  nothing  but  stern  necessity 
would  have  forced  me  to  the  encounter,  but  imperi- 
ous duty  called  me,  and  I  felt  no  fear.  I  found  the 
men  at  the  bakery  utterly  demoralized.  I  called 
them  together,  assured  them  of  their  safety  if  they 
would  go  quietly  to  work,  and  that  every  one  of  the 
sick  would  recover.  They  rallied  at  once.  I  made 
every  possible  preparation  for  uniform  warmth  and 
good  diet,  and  pledged  them  my  word  that  not  one 
of  them  would  be  attacked  except  he  should  trans- 
gress. Those  attacked  brightened  up  into  hope,  and 
one  even  insisted  upon  getting  up  and  going  to  work. 
I  promised  to  stay  with  them  through  the  afternoon 
and  night.  The  relay  came  over  from  the  city,  but 
were  sent  right  back,  and  the  work  went  bravely  on. 
The  bread  would  all  be  ready  three  or  four  hours 
before  the  time  of  delivery.  The  sick  all  recovered 
and  there  were  no  more  attacks. 

The  Orientals  have  an  admirable  kind  of  coolness 
and  courage.  Give  them  a  leader  in  whom  they 
have  confidence,  and  they  will  follow  him  to  the 
death.     The  men  had  now  recovered  their  balance, 


^68  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

and,  towards  evening,  insisted  that  I  should  go  home, 
because  my  family  would  be  distressed  about  me.  I 
attempted  to  do  so,  but  could  find  no  boat.  I  went 
up  the  Asiatic  shore  to  Candili,  opposite  Bebek, 
but  every  boat  was  drawn  up,  and  no  one  would 
put  out  at  that  hour.  Darkness  was  coming  on ; 
but  just  as  I  was  turning  up  to  Mr.  Hanson's  house 
for  the  night,  I  discerned  a  boat  putting  out  and 
hailed  it. 

"  Will  you  take  me  across  to  Bebek  ? " 

"If  you  will  go." 

"■  What  do  you  ask .?  " 

"  Six  piastres  !  " 

If  he  had  said  sixty  or  seventy,  I  should  have 
given  them. 

When  I  was  fairly  seated  in  the  bottom,  he  began 
to  say,  "  How  glad  I  am  to  have  you  for  a  passenger ! 
I  must  go  across,  and  I  had  nothing  for  ballast.  I 
know  you  will  keep  the  trim  of  the  boat.  The  night 
is  bad,  but  we  shall  go  nicely.  Ha,  ha,  cheliby ! 
I  said  six  piastres.  I  know  you  won't  grudge  me 
that,  such  a  night  as  this ;  but  I  would  have  taken 
you  for  nothing  !  " 

Never  were  two  parties  better  satisfied  with  a  bar- 
gain !  We  crossed  nicely.  Wife  and  children  had 
anxiously  given  up  hope  of  my  return  that  night, 
and    they    rushed    upon    me  like   bashi-bazooks.      I 


THE   SEMINARY.  369 

slept  soundly,  and  found  all  in  good  cheer  at  the 
ovens  next  morning.  The  cholera  did  not  strike  us 
again.  About  one  hundred  deaths  were  reported  in 
the  hospital,  but  the  most  remarkable  fact  was  the 
death  of  six  doctors.  The  death  of  Dr.  McGregor, 
the  chief  medical  inspector  who  had  replaced  Men- 
zies,  was  greatly  lamented. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE   SEMINARY    DURING   THE    WAR. 

THE  demand  in  the  British  service  for  interpre- 
ters opened  a  great  door  of  employment  to 
our  students.  Many  of  them  left,  and  obtained  by 
six  months'  service  sufficient  money  to  complete  their 
education.  Some  were  demoralized  by  the  influences 
of  the  camp  and  the  field ;  some  were  strengthened 
in  character  and  manliness,  and  earned  the  approba- 
tion and  respect  of  the  officers.  About  twenty-five 
remained  and  quietly  pursued  their  studies. 

My  work  had  become  so  well  arranged  and  reduced 
to  system  before  the  war  commenced,  that  the  mere 
enlargement  of  it  caused  much  less  additional  labor 
than  one  would  suppose.  The  men  were  intelligent 
and  faithful,  and  they  understood  well  that  their  suc- 
cess was  involved  in  the  success  of  the  whole.  The 
students  pursued  their  regular  course  in  industries, 
and  the  missionary  work  in  general  felt  the  war  less 
than  anyone  would  have  imagined.  The  missiona- 
ries went  straight  on  their  way  and  let  the  war  alone. 
If  anyone  will  look  over  the  missionary  correspond- 
ence from  Turkey  for  the  years   1853-57,  he  will  be 

370 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE    WAR.         37 1 

surprised  to  see  how  few  references  are  made  to  the 
war.  But  important  changes  were  proposed  in  the 
plan  and  scheme  of  education. 

The  great  secretary,  Dr.  Anderson,  had  brought 
forward  his  scheme  of  reducing  all  missionary  educa- 
tion to  a  vernacular  system.^  I  opposed  it.  I  offered 
to  go  into  any  other  department,  but  would  not  take 
up  and  put  in  operation  a  system  that  would  be  in- 
jurious from  the  beginning,  and  must  fail  in  the  end. 
He  apparently  yielded  for  the  time,  and  I  continued 
in  the  service. 

The  time  had  come  to  give  over  all  my  industrial 
oversight  to  those  for  whom  the  industries  had  been 
established.  The  Crimean  war  had  entirely  removed 
many  of  the  obstacles  from  which  our  native  brethren 
had  suffered.  I  wished,  moreover,  for  a  short  vacation. 
I  had  become  "  lean  favored  "  during  the  war.  My 
weight  was  reduced  from  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  to  one  hundred  and  fifteen  pounds.  I  wished 
also  to  place  my  two  oldest  daughters,  Henrietta  and 
Susan,  at  school  in  America.  I  asked  leave  to  go  by 
steam,  making  a  short  visit,  and  then  returning  to  my 
work.  Dr.  Anderson  replied  that  the  Board  had  not 
permitted  missionaries  to  travel  by  steam,  "  but  inas- 
much as  Brother  Hamlin  had  always  gone  by  steam," 
he  must  be  an  exception.     I  paid  my  own  expenses 

1 "  The   vernacular"   system   meant   that   students   should   be   educated    in    and 
through  their  own  language  and  should  study  no  foreign  language. 


372  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

both  ways,  out  of  some  unsettled  accounts  which  had 
not  come  in  when  I  arranged  the  church-building 
fund  referred  to  below.  Forty  dollars  remained  in 
my  pocket  on  my  return.  I  paid  that  over  to  the 
building  of  the  Hass  Keuy  church,  and  not  a  cent  of 
all  those  operations,  which  sometimes  amounted  to 
fifty  thousand  dollars  a  month,  remained  with  me. 

In  bringing  together  all  the  results  of  the  indus- 
tries I  had  established,  I  found  myself  in  posses- 
sion of  ^25,000,  including  what  I  had  already  paid 
for  Rodosto  and  Brousa.  Outside  of  this  about 
;^8oo  of  unsettled  accounts  remained,  which  I  used 
in  going  home,  as  above  stated. 

This  money  did  not  belong  to  me,  for  I  was  a 
missionary  of  the  American  Board.  Dr.  Anderson 
would  not  receive  it,  for  it  would  bring  discredit 
upon  missions  to  have  one  of  its  missionaries  make 
money  at  that  rate.  By  cordial  agreement  with  the 
brethren,  I  paid  it  into  a  church-building  fund.  It 
helped  build  thirteen  churches,  with  schoolhouses 
or  schoolrooms  annexed.  It  was  at  a  time  when 
that  aid  was  most  needed,  and  no  missionary  money 
was  ever  spent  more  usefully  and  effectively.  My 
industrial  schemes  had  vindicated  themselves.  It 
often  seemed  as  though  a  special  Providence  had 
rescued  them  time  and  time  again  from  difficulties. 

The   station    took   upon    itself    the   care    of    the 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE    WAR. 


373 


seminary  during  my  absence.  It  invited  the  Rev. 
William  Clark,  then  in  Erzroom,  to  that  duty  for 
six  or  eight  months.  He  made  objection  to  the 
time,  and  evidently  wanted  a  permanency,  which 
the  station  had  no  intention  to  give.  He  came, 
however,  I  do  not  know  under  what  precise  encour- 
agements. 

It  was  determined  before  I  left  to  abandon  gen- 
eral education  in  the  seminary,  and  reduce  it  or 
elevate  it  to  a  strictly  theological  school.  I  selected 
seventeen  of  the  students,  whom  I  recommended 
for  theological  study,  and  general  high-school  edu- 
cation for  the  time  ceased. 

Our  arrangements  were  satisfactorily  made,  my 
wife  and  children  were  as  well  disposed  of  as  a 
broken-up  household  can  be ;  and  eighteen  years 
from  the  time  I  sailed  from  Boston  for  Constan- 
tinople I  sailed  from  Constantinople  for  Boston. 

We  went  by  steamer  to  Trieste,  Venice,  and 
through  Italy  over  the  St.  Gothard  Pass  to  Paris 
and  London.  It  was  a  most  delightful  journey, 
with  a  company  of  remarkably  interesting  and  intel- 
ligent fellow  travelers.  Among  them  were  Pro- 
fessor Tyler,  with  some  Amherst  students  ;  an  Ox- 
ford professor,  with  six  Oxford  students  ;  Sir  Edward 
Mansfield  ;  George  Francis  Train  ;  Mrs.  J.  P.  Brown 
and  son  ;  and  an  English  manufacturer  by  the  name 


374 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


of  Brown.  Time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of  others ; 
some  from  India,  some  from  the  Crimean  war. 

We  had  good  weather ;  and  neither  at  table  nor 
on  deck  was  there  any  lack  of  spirited  and  some- 
times brilliant  conversation.  Sir  Edward  Mans- 
field's kind  interest  in  my  two  girls  has  left  a  deep 
impression  upon  my  memory.  The  last  evening  on 
the  steamer  and  an  episode  at  Verona  may  be 
worth  mentioning. 

The  last  evening  in  a  steamer's  voyage  is  usually 
hilarious  ;  and  as  I  saw  there  was  a  special  prepa- 
ration for  "  a  good  time,"  I  withdrew  to  the  deck, 
as  did  Professor  Tyler  and  a  few  others.  A  Mr. 
Brown,  from  London,  a  gentleman  of  dignity  and 
intelligence,  was  chosen  chairman,  and  I  felt  there 
would  be  some  restraining  power  from  the  chair 
should  it  be  needed. 

I  had  held  long  talks  with  Mr.  Brown  about  the 
Turks  and  Turkey  and  its  resources  and  possibilities. 
I  had  corrected  many  of  his  erroneous  notions,  and 
he  seemed  to  be  unusually  ready,  for  an  English- 
man, to  be  corrected.  We  could  both  hear  and 
see  from  the  deck  what  was  going  on  in  the  cabin, 
and  it  must  be  confessed  there  was  considerable 
wit,  if  not  wisdom  called  forth.  At  length  George 
Francis  Train  was  called  upon,  and  he  began  an 
improvised  history  of   our  voyage.     He  made  some 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE    WAR.  375 

very  good  hits,  and  occasioned  roars  of  laughter. 
At  length  he  began  upon  the  missionary,  and  I  went 
immediately  downstairs  to  confront  him.  He  only 
expressed  his  scorn  and  contempt  of  missionaries 
and  their  work,  as  Jie  had  seen  tJiem  hi  India.  He 
evidently  saw  that  I  was  there  with  a  purpose. 

The  moment  he  ceased,  there  was  a  call  for  the 
chairman,  and  I  could  hardly  hope  for  a  chance. 
But  the  chairman  rose,  and  said  there  was  a  gen- 
tleman on  board  from  whom  he  had  obtained  more 
knowledge  of  Turkey  and  its  peoples  than  from 
any  other  source.  It  was  his  intercourse  with  that 
gentleman  that  would  make  this  voyage  memorable 
to  him,  and  he  was  sure  the  company  would  be 
glad  to  hear  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hamlin,  an  Amer- 
ican missionary,  etc. 

I  was  welcomed  with  applause,  and  I  spoke  thirty 
minutes  in  delineating  what  our  mission  work  had 
done  on  four  lines  of  activity:  —  (i)  Religious  free- 
dom, with  thirty-five  churches  ;  (2)  education  ;  what 
it  had  wholly  reformed  or  transformed  ;  (3)  the  press, 
with  its  increasing  volume  of  biblical  and  educational 
literature  ;  and  (4)  the  better  industries  which  always 
spring  up  out  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  enlighten- 
ment. I  closed  with  loud  applause,  and  George 
Francis  Train  disappeared. 

Afterwards  two  of   the  Oxford  students   came  to 


376  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

me  on  deck  to  thank  me  for  having  saved  the  even- 
ing. It  was  a  grand  close  to  what  had  been  mere 
hilarity.  They  both  declared  their  wish  to  be  mis- 
sionaries. I  cannot  remember  either  of  their  names, 
nor  the  name  of  their  excellent  professor,  with 
whom  I  formed  a  sort  of  accidental  friendship. 
About  two  years  after,  he  visited  the  East  again 
with  his  wife  and  wife's  sister,  and  they  made  me  a 
hurried  visit  at  Bebek.  He  wanted  to  see  my  work- 
shop, and  expressed  unbounded  admiration  of  what 
I  was  doing.     O  memory,  how  faithless  thou  art ! 

We  landed  at  Trieste,  Sir  Edward  Mansfield 
very  kindly  took  a  carriage,  and  showed  us  all  that 
was  interesting  to  see  in  the  city.  We  then  took  a 
steamer  for  Venice.  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  the  Countess  Pisani  from  her  father,  Dr.  Von 
Millingen.  Our  hotel  was  one  of  the  ancient 
palaces  and  it  retained  some  interesting,  almost 
pathetic,  mementos  of  a  splendor  long  passed  away. 
The  countess  was  a  connoisseur  in  art,  and  she  gave 
us  a  whole  day  to  show  us  the  choicest  of  the  count- 
less works  of  Venetian  art. 

She  seemed  to  be  a  true  Christian  lady.  She 
wanted  us  to  get  together  a  choir  of  American 
singers  at  the  hotel  on  Sunday  and  sing  to  her  some 
of  our  excellent  spiritual  hymns.  She  said  the 
Catholic  Church  had  nothing  in  that  department  to 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE    WAR, 


zn 


be  compared  with  ours.  We  succeeded  in  finding 
singers  and  hymns.  They  sang  Rock  of  Ages,  Just 
as  I  am,  Jerusalem,  etc.,  and  she  expressed  herself 
highly  gratified. 

From  Venice  we  went  to  Verona,  where  we  spent 
two  days  in  examining  the  interesting  antiquities  of 
the  city,  the  tombs  of  the  Scaligeri,  the  celebrated 
amphitheater,  the  most  perfect  that  remains  from 
the  Roman  empire,  and  various  other  objects  of 
interest.  I  had  read  with  such  deep  interest  of 
the  struggle  which  Charles  Albert  had  made  for 
freedom,  against  the  Austrians,  and  the  disastrous 
and  final  battle  near  Verona,  that  I  engaged  a 
cab  to  drive  the  girls  and  myself  out  to  the  battle 
ground,  visiting  at  the  same  time  the  Campo  Santo, 
where  are  some  of  the  most  delicate  monuments  of 
modern  Italian  art. 

This  drive  brought  us  near  to  one  gate  of  en- 
trance to  the  fortified  hill,  where  the  Austrians  were 
placing  three  thousand  cannon  in  order  to  pound 
Verona  to  dust  in  case  of  insurrection.  I  had  a 
great  desire  to  see  these  works,  and  told  the  cab- 
man to  drive  us  to  the  gate.  He  absolutely  refused. 
■He  said  the  Austrians  would  seize  him  and  put  him 
in  prison  if  he  should  do  such  a  thing.  Nobody 
could  enter  there.  Accordingly,  we  left  the  cab,  and 
went  on  foot  to  the  gate.     Now  there  are  two  ways 


378  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

of  entering  such  a  place  :  one  is  by  an  order  from 
supreme  authority  ;  the  other  is  by  extreme  childUke 
simplicity.     I  was  forced  to  rely  upon  the  latter. 

With  my  two  nice  girls,  Henrietta  and  Susan,  I 
went  up  to  the  fierce-looking  guard  at  the  gate.  As 
I  could  not  speak  German,  but  my  girls  spoke  it 
fluently,  they  had  to  be  my  interpreters.  I  took  out 
my  American  passport,  and  told  the  girls  to  say  that 
I  was  an  American  missionary,  on  my  way  home 
from  Constantinople,  and  that  I  wished  to  see  the 
works.  There  was  a  smile  on  their  mustachioed 
faces  as  the  officer  replied  :  *'  Impossible  !  impossi- 
ble !  "  I  then  said,  **  Please  call  the  next  in  com- 
mand ! "  which  he  did.  He  also  was  amused,  but 
incorrigible  ;  and  I  said,  as  before  :  "  Please  call  the 
next  in  command  !  " 

After  some  delay,  a  fine  splendid  officer  made  his 
appearance,  with  curiosity  evident  in  his  counte- 
nance. He  began  to  talk  with  the  girls  in  German, 
of  which  I  could  understand  very  little.  I  was 
quite  left  out  in  the  cold.  I  could  see  that  he 
became  deeply  interested  in  the  conversation  he  was 
holding  with  them.  He  had  asked  them  about  their 
parentage  and  education,  what  languages  they  spoke, 
their  place  of  residence,  and  many  other  things. 
He  was  evidently  quite  charmed  with  the  girls ;  for 
after  he  had  talked  with  them  for  a  while,  he  turned 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.  379 

to  me  and  said  :  "  I  will  detail  an  officer,  who  will 
show  you  all  the  works  you  wish  to  see."  And  thus 
we  were  ushered  into  that  grand  fortress,  in  which 
the  hill  on  the  bank  of  the  Adige  opposite  to 
Verona  was  transformed  into  one  vast  fortress 
bristling  with  thousands  of  cannon. 

We  spent  some  days  in  Paris,  meeting  there  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Robert,  and  the  French  Protestant  pastors, 
Fisch  and  De  Pressense.  Mr.  Robert  had  begun  the 
thinking  which  led  to  Robert  College,  but  had  said 
nothing.  Having  "  done "  Paris,  we  then  passed 
over  to  London. 

On  arriving  in  London,  I  went,  according  to  pre- 
vious arrangement,  directly  to  No.  7  Adams  Street, 
Strand,  the  office  of  the  Turkish  Missions  Aid 
Society.  As  this  society  was  born  in  my  study  in 
Bebek  (Constantinople),  it  will  be  of  interest  to  re- 
count the  circumstances.  The  true  founder  of  the 
society  was  the  Rev.  Cuthbert  G.  Young,  an  English 
clergyman,  who,  in  1853,  came  to  Constantinople 
through  Egypt  and  Syria,  with  greatly  improved 
health,  and  who  wished  to  find  a  place  in  the  East 
where  he  might  be  a  helper  in  existing  work.  He 
was,  first  of  all,  in  himself  a  Turkish  Missions  Aid 
Society.  I  found  him  a  room  close  to  the  seminary, 
and  let  him  have  one  of  the  theological  class  as  a 
teacher  and    to   go   round   with   him   as   interpreter. 


^SO  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

He  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  work,  and  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  Armenian  race  was  the  open 
door  through  which  to  enter  Turkey.  He  gave  him- 
self to  the  study  of  the  language  with  great  zeal. 
He.  often  took  tea  with  us,  and  broached  the  idea  of 
an  English  society  to  aid  us  with  money,  not  with 
men.  He  saw  clearly  the  political  reasons  why  the 
mission  should  always  remain  purely  American. 

Finding  the  sounds  and  idioms  of  the  Armenian 
language  very  difficult,  —  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
forty,  —  he  concluded  to  throw  up  his  idea  of  per- 
sonal aid,  return  to  England,  and  estabhsh,  if  possi- 
ble, a  society  in  aid.  This  was  often  talked  over 
\yith  interest,  but  he  took  us  all  by  surprise  one 
morning  by  coming  in  to  say  good-by.  He  had 
arranged  all  his  affairs  ;  had  left  two  or  three  quite 
worthless  things  in  his  room,  which  he  begged  me  to 
keep,  and  which  I  do  keep  "  in  memoriam."  He  was 
gone  like  a  bird  taking  its  sudden  flight  for  another 
clime.  The  idea  had  taken  full  possession  of  him 
and  had  swallowed  him  up. 

Soon  after  reaching  England,  he  wrote  me  that  he 
had  met  with  encouragement  from  some  of  the  best 
men  in  England  —  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  Sir 
Culling  Eardley,  Sir  Edward  Buxton,  and  others, 
both  in  and  out  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  soci- 
ety  was   definitely   formed   in    the    lower   room    of 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.  38 1 

Exeter  Hall,  July  3,  1854.  Great  was  Mr.  Young's  joy 
and  gratitude  at  this  result,  which  had  come  about 
in  a  most  satisfactory  way.  Dr.  Dwight,  the  father 
of  the  Armenian  mission,  had  been  invited  to  hold 
meetings  in  England,  but  had  been  providentially 
prevented,  and  I  fell  into  his  place.  It  brought  me 
into  connection  with  some  of  the  best  Christian 
society  of    England  and  Scotland. 

I  anticipated  a  very  happy  meeting  with  Mr. 
Young,  although  I  knew  he  had  been  compelled 
by  ill  health  to  retire  from  work.  A  note  from  him, 
written  with  a  trembling  hand,  was  handed  me, 
urging  me  to  come  and  see  him  immediately,  but 
with  it  a  note  from  his  wife,  saying  that  his  weak- 
ness was  so  great  no  one  but  his  own  family  could 
see  him,  and  my  presence  even  would  be  too  ex- 
citing. He  lingered  some  time,  and  departed  in 
great  peace.  His  work  survives  him,  and  the  Turk- 
ish Missions  Aid  Society  is  his  memorial. 

At  the  office  of  the  society  I  met  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Birch,  the  able  and  efficient  secretary  ;  Sir  Culling 
Eardley,  the  vice-president ;  Dr.  Holt  Yates,  and 
Judge  Wheatley,  of  the  East  India  service,  members 
of  the  executive  committee.  We  received  a  very 
hearty  welcome,  and,  after  an  hour  spent  in  con- 
versation. Dr.  Holt  Yates  took  us  to  his  house 
in  Brompton  Square.     The  next  day  we  called  upon 


382  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  the  president  of  the  society. 
Dr.  Holt  Yates  was  deeply  interested  in  the  project 
of  a  railway  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Euphra- 
tes. He  had  made  a  large  purchase  of  land  at 
Suadia,  where  he  was  sure  the  terminus  of  the  rail- 
way would  be ;  and  had  established  schools  and  in- 
dustries there,  and  commenced  a  real  Christian 
civilization.  This  great  enterprise  so  filled  his  mind 
and  heart,  and  he  had  such  an  opportunity  to  press 
it  upon  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  whose  influence  in 
Parliament  he  wanted,  that  Turkish  missions  were 
quite  crowded  out.  It  evidently  annoyed  the  earl, 
for  at  the  close  of  the  interview  he  said  to  me,  **  I 
would  like  to  see  you  again  to-morrow  as  early  as 
convenient,  but  at  any  time  between  ten  and  twelve." 

I  was  accordingly  there  at  ten  o'clock,  and  an- 
swered many  inquiries  with  regard  to  our  work  in 
Turkey.  After  a  long  conversation,  he  expressed 
his  gratification,  and  said,  "  I  must  have  a  drawing- 
room  meeting  of  fifty  or  sixty  gentlemen  from  the 
different  evangelical  religious  bodies  in  London  ;  and 
I  wish  you  to  say  to  them  substantially  what  you 
have  said  to  me,  with  anything  else  that  may  occur 
to  you." 

That  disposed  of,  I  was  about  to  retire,  but  he 
said,  "  I  would  like  to  ask  you  some  questions  about 
our  consular  service  in  the  East." 


THE  SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.  383 

The  earl  was  a  man  of  such  extreme  simplicity 
and  affability,  that  I  entered  into  the  conversation 
with  the  most  unsuspecting  freedom.  I  pointed  out 
what  I  thought  to  be  the  faults  of  the  system,  as 
injurious  both  to  Turkish  and  to  English  interests. 
His  many  questions  drew  me  on  and  on,  until  I  be- 
came aware  that  I  was  treading  on  forbidden  ground. 
For,  as  missionaries,  we  made  it  a  fixed  rule  not  to 
enter  into  foreign  political  interests  any  farther  than 
as  they  are  directly  related  to  our  missionary  work. 

At  the  close  of  the  discussion  he  said  to  me  :  ''  I 
have  been  very  much  interested  in  your  views,  based 
as  they  are  upon  observation  and  experience.  They 
accord  fully  with  my  own  impressions,  and  greatly 
strengthen  and  enlarge  them.  I  am  preparing  a  bill 
to  introduce  into  Parliament,  for  the  reform  of  our 
consular  service  ;  and  I  wish  you  to  see  my  father-in- 
law.  Lord  Palmerston,  and  to  say  to  him  just  what 
you  have  said  to  me,  and  just  as  freely  and  frankly.'* 

I  declined,  as  positively  as  I  politely  could,  and 
confessed  that  I  had  transgressed  one  of  our  mis- 
sionary rules. 

"No,  you  have  not!"  he  said.  "You  have  done 
just  what  was  right !  " 

"  But  it  would  be  extremely  awkward  for  me  to  go 
to  Lord  Palmerston  with  such  a  subject  as  this!" 
I  said. 


384  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^    TIMES. 

"Never  mind,"  he  replied;  "I  shall  bring  it  about 
in  some  way." 

As  I  was  about  to  leave,  I  asked  him  how  I  could 
obtain  an  introduction  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, in  order  to  protest  against  the  ritualistic  char- 
acter of  the  Memorial  Church  about  to  be  erected  at 
Constantinople. 

He  replied  :  "  You  need  no  introduction.  Write 
him  a  note.  Say  that,  as  an  American  missionary, 
you  desire  to  see  his  grace  with  regard '  to  the  pro- 
posed Memorial  Church  at  Constantinople.  He  will 
appoint  the  time  of  an  interview." 

Accordingly  I  did  so ;  and  received  the  reply : 
"  To-morrow  morning,  at  Lambeth  Palace,  at  the 
earliest  hour." 

I  asked  Dr.  Holt  Yates  what  that  "  earliest  hour  " 
meant.  My  earliest  hour  would  be  five  o'clock  a.m.  ! 
But  the  archbishop  might  object  to  that. 

''Why!"  said  the  good  doctor,  ''don't  you  know 
what  the  earliest  hour  means  in  London  1  It  always 
means  ten  o'clock." 

At  ten  I  was  in  Lambeth  Palace,  and  had  an 
hour's  interview  with  the  archbishop,  in  his  mag- 
nificent library.  He  appeared  to  be  an  affable  Chris- 
tian gentleman  ;  made  many  inquiries  about  the  East, 
about  our  missionary  work,  about  the  results  of  the 
Crimean  war,  the  condition  of  the  Oriental  churches, 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.  385 

and  the  prospects  of  reform.  He  entered  fully  into 
our  objections  to  having  a  ritualistic  High  Church 
exhibition  in  that  place.  He  should  consider  what 
could  be  done  ;  and  he  wished  me  to  assure  my  asso- 
ciates of  his  sympathy  in  their  work. 

I  was  highly  gratified  with  the  visit,  but  found  that  I 
could  not  perceive  the  least  difference  between  an  arch- 
bishop and  any  intelligent  Christian  gentleman,  with 
the  exception  of  that  library  and  its  appointments. 

The  drawing-room  meeting  at  the  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury's was  indescribably  interesting.  From  the 
nobility  there  were  present  Lord  Waldegrave  and 
Sir  Culling  Eardley.  Lady  Waldegrave  was  the 
only  lady  present ;  and  she  excused  herself  on  the 
plea  of  anxiety  for  her  lord's  health.  He  had  lately 
recovered  from  a  slight  paralytic  shock,  and  she 
never  left  his  side.  She  was  a  lady  of  much  sweet- 
ness and  dignity,  and  was  evidently  regarded  with 
much  deference  by  the  gentlemen  present.  Lady 
Shaftesbury  made  her  appearance  just  as  the  meeting 
was  breaking  up.  Dr.  Cumming,  the  famous  preacher 
and  man  of  prophecy  at  that  day,  was  present ;  Rev. 
Dr.  Edwards,  an  able  man  ;  and  a  young  scion  of  a 
noble  family,  whose  name  I  forget.  The  Hon.  and 
Rev.  Baptist  Noel  was  another;  and  many  others  of 
note  from  the  different  religious  bodies. 

Some  of  our  friends  of  the  Turkish  Missions  Aid 


386  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

Society  had  great  anxiety  lest  I  should  say  something 
that  would  involve  me  with  the  Anglican  Church.  I 
replied  :  "  I  shall  speak  frankly  ;  and  I  don't  care  a 
fig  for  the  Anglican  Church  or  for  any  other,  as  I 
have  nothing  to  put  forward,  and  nothing  to  conceal." 

Prayer  was  offered  by  a  bishop  ;  and  then  the  earl 
proposed  that  I  should  occupy  half  an  hour  in  a 
general  statement  of  our  missionary  work  in  the 
East,  and  that  the  rest  of  the  evening  be  devoted  to 
questions  and  free  discussion. 

The  questions  were  very  free  and  numerous  from 
all  parts  of  the  room.  Considerable  liberty  and 
friendly  discussion  ensued.  When  the  evening  was 
well  advanced,  we  were  invited  into  the  dining  hall 
for  refreshments.  The  repast  was  very  informal. 
There  were  too  many  to  be  seated  at  the  table. 
The  table  was  covered  with  cold  meat,  rolls,  cakes, 
and  fruits  of  various  kinds  ;  and  the  noble  ancestral 
sideboard,  extending  nearly  the  whole  length  of  the 
hall,  was  covered  with  the  ancestral  silver  tea  and 
coffee  services.  Every  one  helped  himself  as  he 
chose.  I  do  not  remember  that  there  was  a  servant 
present.  The  conversation  continued  to  a  late  hour. 
When  they  all  retired,  the  earl  expressed  his  gratis 
fication  at  the  meeting,  and  said  he  felt  sure  that 
we  had  taken  possession  of  a  very  strong  motive 
force  in  favor  of   our  cause. 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.  387 

The    next   day    I    received    the   following   cordial 

note,  which  had  no  small  influence  upon  subsequent 

measures  :  — 

London,  June  11,  1856. 

My  dear  Dr.  Ha}nlin,  — The  meeting  held  at  my  house  yes- 
terday evening  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  statement  you  made 
of  the  labors  of  yourself  and  colleagues  in  the  Armenian  Mission 
from  the  United  States. 

I  need  not,  I  am  sure,  repeat  the  expressions  and  sentiments 
of  deep  respect  and  affection  that  we  all  of  us  entertain  for  the 
character  and  conduct  of  the  American  Board,  and  the  great 
desire  we  have  to  extend,  by  any  means  in  our  power,  the  circle 
of  its  operations. 

We  are  convinced  that  Bulgaria  would  be  a  fruitful  field  for 
the  labors  of  evangelical  missionaries ;  and  we  are  satisfied  that 
to  none  could  the  work  be  so  safely  confided  as  to  those  who 
have  already  produced  such  happy  results  in  the  Turkish  empire, 

Our  request,  therefore,  is  that  you  should  move  your  breth- 
ren, and  (let  me  add)  ours,  to  undertake  the  dispatch  of  two 
missionaries  to  Bulgaria,  and  the  supervision  of  them,  we,  on 
our  part,  undertaking  to  provide  a  sum,  say  three  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  for  their  sustenance.  We  would  also  urge  the 
Bible  Society  to  send  colporteurs  there  for  the  distribution  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures;  and  the  Malta  College  would  find  the 
means  to  train  two  or  three  young  men  as  school  masters  and 
catechists. 

I  trust  this  plan  may  be  accepted,  in  the  full  confidence  that, 
under  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God,  it  cannot  fail  to  prosper. 

Faithfully  yours, 

SHAFTESBURY. 
Rev.  Dr.  Hamlin. 


388  My  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Soon  after  this  drawing-room  meeting,  I  received 
a  note  from  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  inviting 
me  to  dine  with  him  and  a  few  friends  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  seventeenth  of  June.  On  showing  the 
note  to  Dr.  Holt  Yates,  he  said,  **  That  is  the  way 
the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  intends  that  you  shall 
meet  Lord  Palmerston,"  and  added  :  **  That  is  the 
anniversary  dinner  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  There 
is  to  be  no  anniversary  memorial  dinner  this  year, 
on  account  of  the  French  alliance ;  but  various 
coteries  are  to  have  their  dinners  more  privately." 
He  mentioned  four  or  five  gentlemen  whom  I  would 
undoubtedly  meet,  with  Lord  Palmerston  and  the 
Earl  of  Shaftesbury. 

I  had  engaged  my  passage  on  the  14th  from  South- 
ampton. Thus  I  was  glad  to  escape  the  ordeal.  Dr. 
Holt  Yates  offered  to  secure  an  exchange  of  my 
ticket  to  the  next  steamer,  but  I  positively  declined. 
The  Briton  did  not  entrap  the  Yankee  that  time ! 

Before  I  left  England,  I  made  an  arrangement  with 
the  Turkish  Missions  Aid  Society  to  return  before 
the  first  of  October,  and  spend  a  few  weeks  in  hold- 
ing public  meetings,  in  behalf  of  the  society,  in 
various  cities  of   England  and  Scotland. 

Our  voyage  home  in  the  Persia  was  made  pleasant 
by  friendly  intercourse  with  Christian  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen on  board.     It  was  then  contrary  to  the  laws 


THE  SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR,  389 

of  the  Cunard  Company  for  any  but  an  Episcopal 
clergyman  to  hold  service  on  the  Sabbath.  A  number 
of  the  passengers  petitioned  the  captain  to  invite  me  to 
preach,  and  the  arrangement  was  made  that  the  captain 
should  read  the  service,  and  that  I  should  preach,  and 
close  with  extemporaneous  prayer.  This  innovation 
was  strongly  approved  by  the  passengers  in  general. 
After  a  voyage  of  fourteen  days,  I  again  beheld 
my  native  shores,  after  an  absence  of  eighteen  years. 
When  I  met  my  brother  Hannibal,  at  the  Boston  & 
Albany  depot,  we  passed  each  other  half  a  dozen 
times,  he  looking  for  Cyrus,  and  I  for  Hannibal ;  but 
neither  recognized  the  other.  We  left  the  depot, 
thinking  there  must  have  been  some  mistake.  When 
at  length  we  met,  knowing  it  must  be  we  ourselves, 
one  exclaimed,  "  Is  it  possible  this  is  my  brother  }  " 
and  the  other  responded,  "  And  is  this  mine  }  "  Less 
familiar  acquaintances  had  no  difficulty  in  recogniz- 
ing me,  nor  I  in  recognizing  them.  The  case  was 
somewhat  similar  in  meeting  my  sister  Rebecca.  It 
is  the  minute  changes  that  affect  persons  who  have 
been  very  familiarly  associated,  and  make  the  most 
beloved  friend  look  strange.  It  is  only  the  general 
features  that  are  impressed  upon  others,  and  they  do 
not  change.  My  dear  friend.  Deacon  Erastus  Hayes, 
of  Springfield,  whom  I  had  not  seen  for  twenty-four 
years,  recognized  me  at  a  glance. 


390 


MV  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 


Everything  in  my  native  land  seemed  wonderfully 
changed.  Everybody  spoke  English  !  everybody  was 
well  dressed !  Horses  and  carriages  were  different. 
Streets  and  buildings  seemed  surprisingly  changed. 
Plows  and  harrows,  reapers  and  mowers  were  trans- 
formations. Indeed,  every  instrument  and  tool  of 
every  industry  had  changed.  The  common  nail 
hammer  had  changed.  I  looked  with  deep  emotion 
upon  the  remains  of  an  old  plow  and  an  old  chaise, 
which  in  my  boyhood  were  splendid  ;  now  thrown 
aside  among  rubbish.  "  Is  it  possible,"  I  said,  ''that 
that  is  the  very  plow  I  bought  in  Norway,  Maine, 
when  I  was  a  boy  t "  It  was  a  clumsy  looking 
thing  in  its  old  age,  and  no  wonder  it  had  retired  to 
the  rubbish  heap ! 

My  brother  had  kept  with  affectionate  care  a  few 
mementos  of  our  boyhood ;  but  they  also  have  dis 
appeared.  I  have  a  bracket  made  from  the  heart  of 
a  favorite  apple  tree ;  nothing  else  from  childhood's 
home  but  memories  ! 

My  visit  to  Portland,  where  I  preached  in  the 
Payson  Church  for  some  months, — six  or  seven, — 
in  1837-38,  was  delightful,  with  shades  of  sorrow. 
During  the  eighteen  years,  death  had  made  inroads 
upon  the  flock,  and  some  of  the  choicest  members  of 
the  church  had  gone  to  join  their  beloved  and  adored 
pastor.     It  was  a  great  gratification  to  meet  most  of 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR. 


391 


those  who  had  found  the  path  of  life  under  my  short 
ministry,  honoring  by  an  earnest  Christian  life  their 
profession. 

During  the  last  weeks  of  my  short  pastorate,  a 
Young  Ladies'  Missionary  Society  was  formed,  called 
the  Armenian  Circle.  The  Misses  Howe,  Pope, 
Porter,  Sinclair,  Hubbs,  Lord  sisters,  Pearson,  Pay- 
son,  Thaxter,  and  some  twenty  or  thirty  others 
formed  the  circle  at  its  beginning.  A  slight  misun- 
derstanding came  near  causing  serious  trouble.  I 
had  met  the  circle  and  persuaded  them  to  change 
the  name  from  Hamlin  Circle  to  Armenian  Circle, 
which  they  did.  The  next  day,  three  members  of 
the  circle  whom  I  highly  esteemed  called  upon  me 
with  anxious  and  embarrassed  looks. 

"I  fear  you  have  some  bad  news  to  bring  me,"  I 
said. 

**  Yes,  sir ;  very  embarrassing  to  us  indeed.    We  fear 

the  remark  you  made  to  Miss  P yesterday  will  do 

a  great  deal  of  mischief,  and  perhaps  break  up  the 
society,  and  we  want  to  beg  you  to  find  a  remedy." 

"What  do  you  mean.?"  I  asked.  "What  remark 
did  I  make  to  Miss  P .?  " 

"You  said  to  her  'your  coarse  remark.'" 

"  Miss  P is  not  a  lady  to  make  a  coarse  remark 

—  nor  am  I  a  gentleman  who  could  thus  insult  her  or 
any  other  member  of  the  circle,"  I  said  with  some  heat. 


392 


MV  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 


"But  we  heard  you,  Mr.  Hamlin,  and  so  did 
others,  and  they  are  talking  about  it." 

"  Now  let  me  relieve  you,"  I  said.     "  The  whole 

thing  is  before  me.     When  Miss  P told  me  that 

she  had  mentioned  to  me,  some  days  before,  their 
intention  to  give  the  circle  my  name,  I   replied,   'I 

thought  that  one  of  ^omx  jocose  remarks.  Miss  P .' 

That  is  what  I  said.     Miss  P is  a  lady  that  could 

make  a  jocose  remark,  as  you  all  know,  but  never  a 
*  coarse'  one." 

They  went  away  hilarious  and  the  evil  was  nipped 
in  the  bud.  How  wise  it  always  is,  when  such  occur- 
rences threaten  the  peace,  to  go  directly  to  head- 
quarters ! 

This  Armenian  Circle  did  an  active  missionary 
work  for  many  years.  One  of  its  members  has 
been  a  most  useful  and  beloved  missionary  in  Turkey 
as  the  wife  of  Rev.  Dr.  E.  E.  Bliss. 

The  circle,  on  my  return,  gave  me  a  reception  in 
the  Conference  Room  and  a  bazaar.  All  the  articles 
sold  amounted  to  about  ;^ioo,  and  the  proceeds 
were  given  to  me.  I  purchased  any  article  of  dress 
for  my  family  that  I  fancied,  and  the  money  I  paid 
for  it  came  right  back  to  me. 

The  children  of  some  whom  I  had  left  as  unmar- 
ried youth  were  introduced  to  me  by  the  matronly 
mothers.     Of  the  two  hundred  or  more  persons  pres- 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.         393 

ent,  perhaps  fifty  were  of  the  church  members  whom 
I  had  known  eighteen  years  before.  Most  of  the 
older  members  of  that  day  had  passed  over  or  were 
too  aged  to  attend  the  fair. 

Of  one  interesting  coterie  of  fifteen  persons,  not 
one  was  present,  and  I  believe  only  one  was  living. 
It  was  a  very  excellent  secret  society  of  old  ladies, 
members  of  the  Payson  Church.  One  of  their  num- 
ber, a  sister  much  beloved  and  earnest  in  every  good 
work,  had  met  with  many  afflictions,  and  was  bereft 
in  her  old  age  of  house  and  all  her  property  in  the 
settlement  of  her  husband's  estate.  Twelve  of  her 
associates  in  the  church  quietly  banded  together,  and 
assured  her  that  she  should  not  want  any  good  thing 
which  they  could  furnish,  and  that  she  should  never 
come  upon  the  charities  of  the  church.  The  affair 
was  managed  with  great  wisdom,  delicacy,  and  suc- 
cess. An  excellent  widow,  member  of  the  church, 
unable  to  furnish  financial  aid,  rented  to  them  two 
rooms  in  her  house,  up  two  flights,  it  is  true,  but 
otherwise  very  pleasant.  They  were  given  a  very 
moderate  rental,  and  her  eldest  daughter  —  of  about 
forty,  of  delicate  health  —  would  sleep  in  the  same 
chamber  and  be  her  careful  companion.  The  ladies 
let  no  one  know  that  there  was  any  combination  in 
all  this.  It  was  only  known  in  their  families  that 
they  called  often  upon   Mrs.  B ,  and  not  a  few 


394 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


delicacies  went  to  her.  But  one  evening  every  fort- 
night, the  whole  coterie  had  a  grand  tea  in  her  room, 
and  spent  the  evening  in  a  social  and  cheerful  way. 
I  was  invited  to  one  of  these  teas,  and  the  lady  told 
me  of  the  sad  history  of  Mrs.  B and  of  this  or- 
ganized coterie,  of  which  she  assured  me  no  man  but 
myself  knew.  Their  occasional  visits  and  Christian 
sympathy  were  well  enough  known,  but  that  it  was  an 
organized  thing  they  never  mentioned  to  husband  or 
child.  It  might  occasion  feeling  among  other  widows 
of  the  church.  I  went.  I  was  never  so  surprised ; 
I  was  taken  all  aback.  A  long  and  elegant  table  for 
fourteen !  Not  one  of  the  coterie  but  had,  as  I 
judged,  reached  the   age   of    sixty,   and  some   were 

more  ;  Mrs.  B ,  seventy.     But  they  all  went  back 

to  thirty.  They  had  come  to  have  a  good  time  and 
to  throw  off  care  and  trouble.  After  tea,  which  was 
sociable  and  bright,  and  for  which  everyone  had 
brought  a  share,  a  hymn  was  sung  and  prayer  offered. 
Then  everyone  had  two  or  three  minutes  to  tell  or 
propose  anything  of  importance,  and  after  that  the 
rest  of  the  evening  was  free  until  nine  o'clock. 
Public  affairs,  religion,  literature  were  freely 
broached  and  with  merit  and  wisdom.  There  was 
no  want  of  compliments  and  jokes  and  repartee,  and 
I  had  to  call  up  all  my  resources  not  to  appear  like 
a  fool.     It  was  the  elite  of  the  Payson  Church,  and  a 


THE  SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.  395 

remarkable  coterie.     The  countenance  of  Mrs.  B 

is  impressed  upon  me.  There  were  refinement,  culti- 
vation in  it.  She  was  also  cheerful,  animated,  but 
there  was  a  tone  of  sorrow  and  affliction,  a  shade 
beneath  the  light,  or  else  my  imagination  placed  it 
there.  There  was  an  unusual  degree  of  brotherhood 
in  the  Payson  Church.  "  Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens "  was  a  command  lovingly  obeyed.  But 
of  that  beautiful  picture  of  Christian  life  and 
love  which  so  impressed  me  with  its  purity  and 
strength,  all  had  vanished  and  *'  left  not  a  wrack 
behind." 

My  visits  at  Bowdoin  College  and  at  Bangor  were 
exceedingly  pleasant.  Professors  Smyth,  Upham, 
Cleaveland,  and  Packard,  four  of  the  seven,  were  at 
their  posts,  and  they  gave  me  a  very  cordial  reception. 
My  senior  room  had  two  frail  mementos,  my  name 
in  charcoal  in  the  wood  closet,  and  upon  a  window- 
pane,  scratched  with  a  quartz  crystal.  Everywhere 
I  had  to  speak  upon  the  then  recent  Crimean  war, 
and  I  had  crowded  assemblies. 

My  visit  to  Waterford  affected  me  more  than  any- 
thing else.  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  things 
that  must  be  experienced  in  order  to  be  understood.^ 

Henrietta  and  Susan  were  everywhere  the  object 

1  Since  writing  the  above  I  have  obtained  the  crane  from  our  old  chimney.  I  can 
sit  down  before  it,  placed  on  the  wall  of  my  study,  and  bring  mother,  Susan  and 
Rebecca,  Hannibal  and  Cyrus  in  front  of  it. 


396  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

of  the  kindest  attention,  not  to  say  flatteries.  Miss 
Dillaye,  of  Philadelphia,  accidentally  meeting  them  in 
Bangor,  offered  to  take  upon  herself  the  education 
of  one  of  them.  They  would  not  consent  to  be 
separated.  I  shall  note  the  many  things  omitted 
here,  in  my  history  of  our  social  life,  which  is  an 
entirely  separate  record  of  our  joys  and  griefs. 

After  spending  two  and  a  half  months  at  home, 
and  being  refreshed  by  meeting  many  old  friends, 
and  being  deeply  moved  by  the  "vacant  chairs"  in 
beloved  households,  I  returned  to  England  by  the 
Persia,  reaching  Liverpool  September  27,  in  sea- 
son to  go  right  up  to  London.  We  had  a  remark- 
ably smooth  passage  until  the  morning  we  sighted 
Ireland.  Here  we  met  the  equinoctial  gale  in  all  its 
fury.  The  Persia  was  high  in  the  water,  and  rolled 
tremendously.  I  went  up  on  deck,  with  two  Chris- 
tian friends  from  Philadelphia,  and  by  holding  fast  to 
the  railing,  I  was  estimating  the  distance  between 
the  side  wheel  and  the  ocean,  as  it  sometimes  rose 
completely  out  of  the  water,  and  revolved  in  the  air. 
I  was  amused  at  the  exclamation  of  my  friends  : 
"  Let  us  go  below,  Mr.  Hamlin  !  it  seems  to  be  dan- 
gerous here  !  "  I  replied  :  "  There  's  not  the  least 
danger  of  our  being  swept  from  the  deck ;  and  the 
air  below  is  very  close."  But  they  beat  a  retreat, 
and  felt  much  safer  below. 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.         397 

Owing  to  the  severity  of  the  storm,  we  were  not 
able  to  communicate  with  Queenstown,  and  the 
mail  was  transferred  with  great  difficulty.  Before 
we  entered  the  Mersey,  we  passed  no  less  than  eight 
ships  in  distress  ;  but  the  captain  declared  that  it 
was  impossible  to  render  them  any  assistance. 

On  the  day  after  reaching  London,  I  met  the  sec- 
retary and  committee  of  the  Turkish  Missions  Aid 
Society,  and  arranged  a  program  for  forty  days*  work 
in  holding  public  meetings  on  behalf  of  the  society. 
The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  and  Sir  Culling  Eardley 
were  extremely  cordial,  and  seemed  to  have  adopted 
the  American  missions  in  Turkey  with  genuine  in- 
terest and  fervor.  We  held  meetings  in  Southamp- 
ton, Brighton,  the  Isle  of  Wight,  London,  Liverpool, 
Manchester,  Bath,  Clifton,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  and 
a  farewell  meeting  in  London.  Besides  the  public 
meetings,  there  were  occasional  drawing-room  meet- 
ings, and  meetings  with  invited  clergymen  and  men 
of  influence.  I  had  much  delightful  intercourse  with 
some  of  the  choicest  spirits  of  the  Anglican  Church. 
Their  night  suppers,  however,  often  lasting  from  half- 
past  ten  until  midnight,  upset  my  digestive  powers 
so  that  I  did  not  fully  recover  for  months  after  my 
return  to  Constantinople. 

At  the  meeting  in  Edinburgh,  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Duncan  was  present,  and,  after  meeting,  came  to  the 


398  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

supper  at  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cullen's,  Royal  Terrace.  The 
provost  of  the  city  was  there,  and  many  other  distin- 
guished men.  Our  conversation  continued  until  after 
midnight.  Dr.  Duncan  was  the  last  to  leave,  and  he 
carried  off  my  umbrella.  He,  however,  became  con- 
scious of  the  innocent  theft,  and  came  back  to  return 
it  just  as  we  were  retiring.  Dr.  Cullen  said  of  the 
incident,  that  the  taking  of  the  umbrella  by  Dr- 
Duncan  was  nothing  extraordinary,  but  his  returning 
it  was  something  he  had  never  done  before.  His 
wife  always  returned  the  articles  he  carried  off  with 
him.  He  was  a  very  great,  learned,  and  devout  man, 
but  his  fits  of  absent-mindedness  were  immedicable. 
But  for  that  peculiarity,  he  would  have  been  the  peer 
of  Chalmers.  His  wife  had  to  keep  for  him  all  his 
appointments  ;  otherwise  he  would  rarely  remember 
them.  Dr.  Cullen  told  me  this  anecdote  of  him  :  — 
Two  learned  gentlemen  from  Germany,  visiting 
Edinburgh,  had  a  great  desire  to  meet  Dr.  Duncan, 
of  whose  profound  Oriental  learning  they  were  aware. 
A  gentleman  accordingly  invited  Dr.  Duncan  to  dine 
with  these  German  friends  at  his  house,  and  gave 
special  charge  to  Mrs.  Duncan  to  see  that  her  hus- 
band kept  the  appointment.  When  the  hour  ap- 
proached, she  went  to  the  doctor,  at  work  in  his 
garden,  and  reminded  him  of  the  invitation  to  din- 
ner.    "  Oh,  yes  !  "  he  said,  "  I  have  it  in  mind.     I  'm 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.         399 

going  just  now."  But,  watching  him  a  few  moments, 
and  seeing  him  still  diligently  at  work,  she  went  to 
him  again,  and  urged  him  not  to  be  late  at  the  dinner. 
He  then  j  'arted  direct  for  his  friend's  house.  On 
arriving  t^  :re,  he  became  aware  that  his  hands  bore 
marks  of  Lhe  garden  soil,  and  asked  the  lady  for  a 
room  in  which  to  wash  his  hands,  with  an  apology 
for  the  neglect.  She  showed  him  into  a  chamber, 
and  said,  "We  will  wait  for  you  in  the  drawing- 
room."  After  waiting  an  unwarrantable  time,  the 
gentleman  went  to  see  what  had  become  of  Dr. 
Duncan.  What  was  his  profound  surprise  to  find 
him  undressed  and  safely  ensconced  in  bed!  Many 
pages  might  be  covered  with  similar  stories  of  his 
absent-mindedness. 

On  reaching  the  train,  at  7  a.m.,  whom  should  I 
see  but  this  self-same  Dr.  Duncan.  He  said  :  "•  I 
enjoyed  the  meeting  so  much  last  evening  that  I  am 
going  to  Glasgow  to  enjoy  it  over  again."  At  Glas- 
gow, I  went  directly  to  the  house  of  Henderson  of 
Park,  the  pious  millionaire.  I  felt  too  weak  and  ill 
to  attend  the  meeting.  Mr.  Henderson  said  :  "  The 
meeting  without  you  would  be  Hamlet  with  Ham- 
let left  out."  He  prepared  me  a  stiff  dose  of  brandy 
and  sugar,  saying,  "  Take  that  and  you  '11  be  all  right 
immediately."  Having  been  a  teetotaler  all  my  life, 
it  would  undoubtedly  have  made  me  dead  drunk.     I 


400 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


took  perhaps  less  than  half  of  it.  I  went  into  the 
meeting  and  spoke  an  hour.  Dr.  Duncan  sat  directly 
behind  me  on  the  platform,  and  was  anxious  that  I 
should  leave  out  nothing  of  what  I  had  said  in  Edin- 
burgh. He  repeatedly  poked  me  with  his  cane,  and 
reminded  me  of  this  or  that  anecdote  or  fact  that  I 
had  not  narrated.  I  always  spoke  extemporaneously, 
and  it  was  impossible  always  to  refer  to  the  same 
facts,  as  the  natural  laws  of  association  would  bring 
up  new  facts  in  every  new  speech. 

After  the  meeting,  I  remained  in  Mr.  Henderson's 
house,  sick  in  bed,  for  three  or  four  days,  attended 
by  Dr.  Rainey,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  physi- 
cians and  earnest  Christians  of  Glasgow.  This  ill- 
ness made  it  impossible  for  me  to  meet  an  appoint- 
ment to  lay  the  corner  stone  of  Mr,  Waddington's 
Memorial  Church  (of  the  Puritan  Martyrs),  in  Lon- 
don. Fortunately,  the  Rev.  Parsons  Cooke  was  going 
directly  to  London,  and  I  commissioned  him  to  lay 
the  corner  stone  in  my  name.  At  a"  later  day  I  at- 
tended a  meeting  at  the  church,  and  in  the  presence 
of  the  officers  and  some  members  of  the  church,  I 
adopted  the  stone  as  my  own.  In  it  is  sculptured  : 
"  This  corner  stone  was  laid  by  Rev.  Cyrus  Hamlin, 
of  Constantinople,  a  descendant  of  the  French 
Huguenots." 

The  good   Dr.   Rainey  and   Mr.    Henderson  very 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.         40 1 

kindly  obtained  for  me  a  place  in  a  luxurious  car  for 
invalids,  without  additional  charge.  An  invalid  lady 
was  in  the  same  compartment.  We  anticipated  a 
rapid  and  pleasant  passage  to  London.  We  had 
passed  Rugby  by  a  few  miles  when,  in  the  midst  of 
a  dense  fog,  we  were  arrested  by  signals  of  danger 
ahead.  A  coal  train  had  run  into  a  cattle  train. 
We  were  delayed  just  twelve  hours  in  that  dense 
fog  before  we  could  proceed.  It  became  very  chilly, 
and  the  poor  lady  begged  me  to  get  for  her,  if  pos- 
sible, a  bottle  of  hot  water  for  her  feet  and  hands. 
I  made  every  effort  on  her  behalf,  but  we  could 
absolutely  obtain  nothing  for  her  or  for  myself.  It 
was  a  long  night  of  suffering,  from  8  p.m.  until 
8  A.M.  I  survived  the  unhappy  ordeal,  and  I  hope 
she  did. 

To  most  of  these  meetings  I  was  accompanied 
either  by  Captain  Hall,  an  unpaid  volunteer,  travel- 
ing secretary  of  the  society,  or  by  Rev.  Dr.  Black- 
wood, the  head  chaplain  of  the  British  army  in  the 
Crimean  war,  to  whom  I  have  already  referred.  Dr. 
Blackwood  went  with  me  to  make  a  third  effort  for 
forming  there  an  auxiliary  society.  An  independent 
minister,  — whose  name  I  have  forgotten,  —  a  gentle- 
man of  commanding  influence  in  all  Christian  char- 
ities, a  successor  of  the  celebrated  and  devoted  Jay, 
whose    "  Evening    Exercises "    and    other   practical 


402  .  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

religious  works  were  in  every  home,  had  successfully 
opposed  the  previous  efforts,  because  of  the  asserted 
complication  of  the  American  Board  with  slavery. 
We  went  from  London  to  Bath  —  forty  miles  —  in 
just  one  hour,  including  three  or  four  stops.  Dr. 
Blackwood  and  I  went  ^to  the  house  of  Captain 
McAlpine,  a  returned  Indian  officer  and  man  of 
wealth,  who  was  strongly  desirous  of  forming  the 
auxiliary  in  Bath.  He  said  to  us  at  once  :  '*  We  must 
meet  this  question  of  the  relations  of  the  American 
Board  to  slavery,  or  this,  our  third  attempt,  will  be 
our  last  and  a  failure."  I  asked  him  if  he  had  a 
copy  of  The  Missionary  Herald.  He  produced  one. 
Looking  over  the  monthly  receipts,  I  found  that,  out 
of  nearly  thirty  thousand  dollars,  only  five  hundred 
were  from  the  slave  states.  I  put  the  Herald  in  my 
pocket  and  said  :  *'  I  think  I  can  give  the  gentleman 
a  satisfactory  answer." 

There  were  so  many  anniversaries  going  on  in 
Bath,  that  we  found  great  difficulty  in  getting  a  hall 
and  an  hour  for  our  meeting.  We  were  driven  to 
2  P.M.  for  the  hour,  and  to  a  hall  —  I  think  King 
William's  Hall,  for  there  were  two  horrid  oil  paint- 
ings of  the  king  and  his  queen  suspended  in  the  hall. 
It  was  a  pleasant  hall  that  would  seat  about  two  hun- 
dred persons,  and  to  my  great  surprise  was  actually 
full.     It  was  one  of  the  finest  audiences  to  look  upon 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.         403 

I  had  ever  seen  in  England.  Dr.  Blackwood  intro- 
duced me  very  briefly,  saying  that  though  I  was 
capable  of  speaking  for  any  length  of  time  upon  the 
great  subject  that  claimed  our  attention,  I  would 
occupy  only  an  hour,  and  there  would  remain  another 
half  hour  for  questions  and  remarks. 

When  the  touch  of  the  bell  apprised  me  that  my 
hour  was  ended,  I  had  not  reached  the  subject  of 
slavery.  As  I  took  my  seat  I  was  called  upon  to 
speak  on  that  topic.  T  took  out  the  Herald  and 
stated  the  facts.  I  remarked  that  the  five  hundred 
dollars  may  have  been  given  partly  by  pious  ladies, 
who  deplored,  as  much  as  they  did,  the  evils  of 
slavery,  and  who  were  praying  to  be  free  from  the 
curse ;  or  possibly,  in  part,  by  pious  slaves,  as  some 
of  the  artisan  class  were  permitted  to  work  for  them- 
selves in  such  a  way  as  to  purchase  their  own  free- 
dom. "  At  all  events,  if  you  require  the  Board 
to  sift  out  such  contributions,  and  to  inquire  into 
the  individual  character  of  each  giver  in  the  south, 
what  will  you  do  with  your  contributions  made 
by  those  who  have  become  rich  on  slave-grown 
cotton  .?  " 

With  this  brief  reference  to  the  subject,  I  sat 
down,  and  profound  silence  followed.  Every  eye 
was  turned  towards  the  gentleman  on  the  platform, 
who  hitherto  had  always  brought  forward  his  objec- 


404  ^y  LIFE  AND    7IMES. 

tions.  He  at  length  arose,  and  said  the  friends 
before  him  well  knew  that  he  had  opposed  the  for- 
mation of  an  auxiliary,  because  of  this  terrible  sub- 
ject of  slavery.  Our  missionary  friend  had  placed 
this  subject  in  a  new  light.  His  objections  were 
entirely  removed,  and  he  should  himself  become  a 
member  and  a  subscriber,  should  such  an  auxiliary 
be  formed.  The  declaration  was  received  with  ap- 
plause. A  contribution  of  more  than  a  hundred 
pounds  was  taken  up,  and  an  auxiliary  was  formed 
which  has  been  one  of  the  most  liberal  supporters  of 
the  cause. 

From  Bath  we  passed  over  to  Clifton,  where  we 
had  another  very  interesting  meeting.  The  provost 
of  the  town  presided.  It  was  there  that  I  met 
the  two  individuals  referred  to  in  Paris,  who  had 
derived  great  benefit  from  my  labors  years  before 
in  Turkey. 

Our  last  meeting  was  in  Lower  Exeter  Hall.  Sir 
Arthur  Kennaird  presided.  Mr.  Rawlinson,  former 
embassador  to  Persia,  spoke  strongly  in  favor  of 
American  missions  in  Turkey  and  Persia.  The  Hon. 
and  Rev.  Baptist  Noel,  in  his  sweet  and  beau- 
tiful manner,  made  some  very  cordial  remarks,  and 
the  following  letter  from  Sir  Fenwick  Williams,  of 
Kars,  was  read.  The  applause  testified  to  his  great 
popularity  :  — 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.         405 

My  dear  Dr.  Hamlin,  —  I  am  extremely  sorry  that  a 
long-standing  engagement  will  prevent  my  having  the  pleas- 
ure of  meeting  you  in  Exeter  Hall  on  the  evening  of 
the  4th. 

I  thus  lose  the  opportunity  of  stating  to  the  meeting  my  expe- 
rience of  sixteen  years,  in  all  parts  of  the  East,  of  the  efforts  of 
that  band  of  American  missionaries  of  which  you  form  a  worthy 
member.  I  hope  erelong  to  be  able  to  testify  in  that  hall  to  all 
the  advantages  gained  to  Christianity,  as  well  as  to  humanity, 
by  the  increasing  and  judicious  exertions  of  your  countrymen, 
both  in  Turkey  and  Persia;  and  on  doing  so  I  shall  speak  of 
personal  friends,  as  w-ell  as  zealous  pioneers  of  evangelization, 
who  have  proved  themselves  so  worthy  of  the  support  and  sym- 
pathy of  the  British  public. 

Pray,  on  reaching  Stamboul,  give  my  best  respects  to  all  my 
missionary  friends,  and  believe  me  always 

Yours  faithfully, 

W.  F.  WILLIAMS. 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting  the  following  resolu- 
tion was  passed,  with  applause  :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  assembly  welcome,  with  cordial  and  peculiar 
pleasure,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  of  Constantinople,  and  is 
glad  of  the  opportunity  which  his  presence  affords  to  express  to 
him  personally  the  high  admiration  entertained  by  Christians  of 
all  denominations  throughout  England,  of  his  honorable, 
lengthened,  devoted,  and  successful  work  as  a  missionary  of 
Christ's  gospel  to  the  Armenians. 

The  meeting  would  further  assure  Dr.  Hamlin  of  the  continued 
sympathy  and  prayer  for  his   future   and  extended  labors,  and 


406  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

would  convey  through  him  the  expression  of  the  same  feelings 
of  high  esteem  to  all  his  brethren  and  fellow  laborers  both  in 
Turkey  and  Persia. i 

My  work  in  England  had  come  to  a  close.  Wher- 
ever I  had  been,  in  England,  Scotland,  or  America, 
when  it  became  known  that  I  had  been  a  resident 
of  Constantinople  during  the  Crimean  war,  and  for 
many  years  antecedent  to  it,  I  had  at  once  an  audi- 
ence and  many  questioners.  I  am  now  better  pre- 
pared, after  thirty-six  years  of  histories,  discussions, 
and  events,  to  state  some  points  with  considerable 
confidence  :  — 

I.  The  Crimean  war  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the 
treason  of  Louis  Napoleon,  contrary  to  the  interests 
and  plans  of  England,  and  at  the  time  when  she  was 
at  length  grandly  prepared  to  wrest  the  Crimea  from 
Russia,  and  secure  the  future  peace  of  Europe  by  a 
protected  combination  of  the  Danubian  provinces  or 
states.  While  an  ally  of  England  in  war,  he  was  in 
treasonable  communication  with  the  enemy  about  its 
conclusion.  This  has  made  the  French  alliance  hate- 
ful to  all  intelligent  Englishmen.  It  was  to  seal 
eternal  friendship  ;    it    has    created   eternal  distrust. 

1  The  next  morning  The  Times  had  a  favorable  notice  of  this  meeting,  which 
greatly  delighted  Sir  Culling  Eardley.  He  said  it  was  the  first  and  only  meeting  of 
the  society  The  Times  had  noticed,  adding,  "  We  have  at  length  made  an  impres- 
sion. We  have  a  place  in  public  estimation.  We  have  won  our  spurs,"  etc.  I  was 
surprised  at  his  enthusiasm.  He  gave  me  a  copy  of  the  notice,  but  I  do  not  find  it 
among  the  papers  of  that  time. 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR. 


407 


2.  As  to  the  main  object  of  England,  to  cripple 
Russia,  the  war  was  a  notorious  failure. 

3.  As  to  its  immediate  and  direct  object,  to  save 
Constantinople  from  the  clutch  of  the  Czar  Nicholas, 
it  was  a  perfect  success. 

4.  Louis  Napoleon  consummated  his  treason  at  the 
Peace  of  Paris,  when  he  engineered  into  it  the  pro- 
hibition of  foreign  interference  in  carrying  out  the 
Haiti  Hamayoim,  or  charter  of  freedom,  elaborated 
by  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe.  This  plan  of  reform, 
under  the  powerful  supervision  of  the  allies,  would 
have  made  Turkey  strong  against  Russia,  and  Russia 
and  France  united  upset  it.  De  Redcliffe  declared 
he  would  have  cut  off  his  right  hand  rather  than 
sign  that  treaty.  It  left  the  Turkish  government  to 
itself,  and  of  course  it  would  do  nothing.  Politi- 
cally, it  made  the  Crimean  war  a  farce,  and  a  very 
wicked  one,  by  throwing  away  all  that  had  been 
brought  within  reach.  That  charter  of  freedom  was 
received  with  great  commendation  and  applause,  and 
then  made  nugatory  by  abandoning  it  to  Turkey. 
That  high  treason  made  all  Louis  Napoleon's  subse- 
quent humiliations  and  disasters  appear  like  righteous 
retributions. 

5.  England  showed  a  strange,  unpardonable  weak- 
ness in  falling  in  with  Louis  Napoleon's  policy,  with- 
drawing Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  and  sending  as 


4o8  ^^V  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 

his  successor  Sir  Henry  Bulwer,  a  man  of  infamous 
morals,  whose  whole  career  in  Turkey  seemed  to 
be  inspired  with  the  mad  determination  to  undo 
everything  De  Redcliffe  had  done.  He  aroused 
Turkish  bigotry  against  the  missionary  work,  and 
would  have  wrought  immense  evil  ;  but  his  notorious 
reception  of  a  bribe  from  the  Pasha  of  Egypt,  for 
which  he  betrayed  England's  interest,  compelled 
England  to  recall  him.  He  inflicted  a  permanent 
curse  upon  Turkey  by  leading  the  government  into 
making  extravagant  loans  at  the  most  absurd  rates 
of  interest.  It  is  owing  to  Bulwer's  initiative  that 
Turkey  plunged  into  bankruptcy. 

6.  His  name  and  Louis  Napoleon's,  when  they 
come  to  the  judgment  seat  of  history,  will  be  cast 
out  into  outer  darkness. 

7.  Another  incidental  result  of  the  Crimean  war 
has  been  to  solidify^  Europe  against  yielding  to  Rus- 
sia her  long-sought  prize  —  Constantinople.  When, 
in  1877,  she  had  the  prize  in  hand,  Europe  arose  and 
made  her  relinquish  it.  Ignatieff  proudly  said  of 
European  Turkey,  ^^fy  sids^fy  rested  But  the  three 
hundred  thousand  of  Russia's  choicest  troops  had 
immediately  to  march  out,  at  the  command  of  the 
Berlin  congress. 

8.  There  are  some  unlooked-for  and  unsought  re- 
sults of  the  war  of  great  and  permanent  value  :  {a) 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.  409 

The  abolition  of  serfdom  in  European  Turkey,  to 
which  I  have  referred,  {b)  The  old  clogs  upon 
industries,  the  power  of  the  guilds,  and  the  power 
of  the  patriarchs  and  bishops  are  very  much  dimin- 
ished, {c)  Ideas  of  civil  and  religious  freedom  have 
spread  among  all  classes.  This  has  alarmed  both 
Turkey  and  Russia.  The  present  reaction  measures 
the  nature  and  extent  of  that  alarm.  Russia  begins 
to  see  that  "  Protestantism  has  set  its  foot  in 
Turkey." 

As  I  was  about  to  leave  for  Constantinople,  I  had 
a  very  cordial  invitation  from  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury 
to  come  and  spend  a  week  at  St.  Giles,  his  country- 
seat  ;  but  I  had  completed  my  engagements,  and  felt 
in  great  .haste  to  return.  I  went  by  way  of  Paris, 
Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Trieste.  I  had  a  very  interest- 
ing week  in  Berlin,  with  my  nephew,  William  Maltby, 
professor-elect  of  modern  languages  in  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege. I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  a  Professor 
Strauss,  whom  I  had  seen  in  Constantinople,  —  not 
the  Strauss,  but  a  truly  evangelical  man,  —  professor 
of  sacred  geography  in  the  university.  I  dined  with 
him  and  a  fellow  professor,  and  we  had  an  interesting 
discussion  upon  the  differences  and  resemblances  of 
Germans  and  Americans  and  of  Germany  and  Amer- 
ica. What  they  deplored  was  that  Germans  have 
not  the  individuality,  the  courage,  the   initiative  of 


4IO 


A/Y  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 


Americans.  A  German  cannot  put  his  learning  to 
practical  account  as  an  American  can. 

I  need  not  speak  of  the  magnificent  museums  of 
BerHn  and  Vienna.  Nothing  attracted  my  attention 
so  much  as  the  great  Egyptian  collection  in  the 
Berlin  Museum.  It  seemed  to  me  to  surpass  any- 
thing I  had  seen  in  London  and  Paris. 

The  railroad  over  the  Semerin  Mountains  was 
then  only  open  to  Adelsburg.  It  is  the  most  won- 
derful piece  of  engineering  that  I  have  ever  wit- 
nessed. We  traveled  towards  every  point  of  the 
compass,  through  tunnels  and  along  the  sides  of 
cliffs.  We  reached  Adelsburg  in  the  midst  of  a 
mighty  snowstorm.  There  three  diligences  were 
fitted  out  to  take  the  passengers  who  would  not  stop, 
on  to  Trieste.  The  traveling  was  so  heavy  that  the 
mail  would  be  some  hours  behind  the  government 
time.  The  change  of  horses  did  not  occupy  more 
than  a  minute.  We  were  packed  in  our  diligence  for 
twelve  hours,  and  were  allowed  to  get  out  but  once 
during  all  that  time.  We  could  obtain  no  refreshment  ; 
no  tea,  no  coffee,  and  nothing  but  miserable  sour 
beer,  which  some  drank  and  some  would  not  drink. 
We  arrived  at  Trieste  with  joints  so  stiffened  that 
we  could  hardly  walk  or  stand.  But  the  storm  had 
passed,  the  sun  was  shining  brightly,  and  the  Gulf  of 
Trieste  looked  as  bright  and  blue  as  the  Bosphorus. 


THE  SEMINARY  DURING    THE   WAR.  41  1 

The  next  clay  I  took  passage  for  Constantinople  in 
the  Trieste  steamer.  There  were  only  two  other  first 
cabin  passengers,  fellows  of  Cambridge  University, 
making  their  first  tour  abroad.  They  were  learned 
innocents.  As  we  stood  upon  the  quarter  deck, 
looking  on  the  deck  passengers  below,  one  said  with 
surprise  :  "  Why,  there  is  the  Albanian  prince  that  we 
drank  wine  with  last  night !  "  When  he  pointed  out 
the  individual,  I  said  to  him  :  **  That  is  no  prince, 
but  probably  a  pasha's  hostler!"  They  appealed 
to  the  captain,  who  confirmed  my  judgment.  They 
were  so  chagrined  and  annoyed,  that  I  could  never 
ascertain  how  they  had  been  so  befooled.  To  tell  the 
truth,  he  was  a  fine-looking  young  fellow,  and  the  Al- 
banian costume  is  distingue  enough  to  befit  a  prince. 

On  reaching  home,  I  found  my  family  in  perfect 
health,  and  the  station,  ready  to  make  a  new  deal  in 
the  seminary.  Rev.  William  Clark  had  taken  the 
seminary  during  my  absence  ;  he  had  so  ingratiated 
himself,  both  with  the  students  and  with  the  station, 
that  it  was  thought  best  he  should  remain  at  his 
post  and  that  I  should  take  the  theological  class,  and 
establish  a  preaching  station  at  the  Fanar. 

I  assented,  because  the  work  was  equally  congenial, 
and  it  would  be  humiliating  to  be  compelled  to  insist 
upon  the  original  agreement.  I  took  a  house  near  by 
the  seminary,  and  entered  upon  my  new  duties  with 


412 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


delight.  I  very  soon  saw  clearly  that  Mr.  Clark  was 
running  the  seminary  upon  a  scale  of  expenditure  that 
would  cause  trouble  with  the  treasury.  I  was  also 
amazed  at  the  changes  he  had  made  in  the  curriculum 
of   studies  ;   but   let   this  episode  remain  unwritten. 

The  station  was  glad  when  he  departed,  and  re- 
gretted that  he  had  ever  come.  He  has  since 
figured  as  the  Rev.  and  Hon.  or  the  Hon.  and 
Rev.  William  Clark  ;  getting  money  for  a  ladies'  col- 
lege in  Florence,  Italy,  with  no  responsible  board  of 
overseers  to  receive  and  expend  the  money.  He  has 
obtained  patronage  in  England,  by  representing  him- 
self as  having  been  the  president  of  the  Theological 
College  of  the  American  Board,  which  resulted  in 
Robert  College.  There  should  be  some  slight  de- 
ductions made  from  this  statement,  inasmuch  as 
the  Bebek  Seminary,  to  which  he  doubtless  refers, 
was  removed  to  Marsovan,  and  hence  had  no  connec- 
tion with  Robert  College.  And  his  connection  with 
that  seminary  was  so  unsatisfactory,  both  as  to  the 
use  of  funds,  and  the  methods  of  instruction,  that 
when  he  went  to  Germany,  during  a  summer  vaca- 
tion, he  was  kindly  requested  by  the  station  not  to 
return.  That  he  has  the  genius  of  humbugging 
good  men  I  am  not  disposed  to  deny. 

On  his  departure,  I  resumed  my  place  in  the 
seminary,  and    brought    things    back    to    their   old 


THE   SEMINARY  DURING    THE    WAR.         413 

order.  Although  I  reduced  the  expenses  by  one 
half,  my  advent  was  hailed  with  joy  by  the  students. 
In  the  meantime,  I  had  transformed  the  mill  and 
bakery  situated  directly  opposite  to  the  seminary 
into  a  dwelling  house.  The  funds  expended  were  in 
part  from  certain  unsettled  accounts,  and  from  assist- 
ance given  by  friends  in  Massachusetts,  of  whom 
Rev.  Dr.  Gordon,  Mr.  William  Stoddard,  and  Mr. 
Williston,  all  of  Northampton,  were  the  chief.  Not 
a  dollar  was  expended  from  the  funds  of  the  Board. 
The  ground  on  which  it  was  situated  was  the 
property  of  the  Board.  My  proposition  was,  that  on 
leaving  the  house  myself,  it  also  should  become  the 
property  of  the  Board.  Indeed,  while  I  occupied  it, 
it  was  effectively  the  Board's  property,  because  my 
salary  was  diminished  by  the  amount  of  the  rent.  I 
left  the  house  in  1863,  and  it  then  ceased  to  be 
mine.  It  cost  $3,000 ;  and  in  the  rent  received,  and 
in  the  sale,  it  has  probably  yielded  $5,000  to  the 
Board.  I  have  paid  back  to  the  Board  more  than  I 
ever  received  from  it,  during  all  the  years  of  service. 
As  it  had  been  decided  that  the  seminary  should 
be  removed  to  Marsovan,  and  Mr.  Christopher  R. 
Robert,  of  New  York,  had  been  in  correspondence 
with  me  in  reference  to  founding  a  college  at  Con- 
stantinople, I  resigned  my  connection  with  the  Board, 
to  take  effect  May,  i860. 


414  -^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

I  could  not  conscientiously  continue  as  an  edu- 
cator in  the  service  of  the  Board,  after  Dr.  Ander- 
son's revolutionary  system  of  vernacular  education 
had  been  decided  upon.  I  had  four  objections  to 
his  system: — i.  It  is  unphilosophical,  not  true  to 
human  nature,  to  the  wants  and  capacities  of  the 
mind.  2.  It  will  make  the  Protestant  pastors  infe- 
rior everywhere  to  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  who  all 
speak  foreign  languages,  and  have  the  Papal  history 
of  the  Church  by  heart.  3.  It  would  cause  great 
and  general  dissatisfaction  in  the  Armenian  Protest- 
ant community,  and  heartfelt  cooperation  would 
cease.  4.  It  would  injure  universally  the  prestige 
of  the  mission  to  take  the  back  track  on  education. 

All  the  results  that  I  anticipated  were  realized,  and 
many  more.  The  system,  moreover,  utterly  broke 
down  and  passed  off  the  stage,  after  doing  untold 
mischief.  Dr.  Anderson  was  a  man  of  great  power, 
and  his  errors  were  proportionably  injurious.  Presi- 
dent Martin  B.  Anderson,  of  Rochester,  New  York, 
by  his  eloquent  and  powerful  reasoning  saved  the 
Baptists  from  adopting  the  same  fatal  system, 
although  their  chief  secretary  and  President  Wayland 
warmly  championed  it.  He  was  a  remarkable  man, 
and  his  power  over  the  Baptist  church  was  deservedly 
very  great.  He  saved  Baptist  missions  from  the 
great  setback  from  which  our  missions  suffered. 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

THE  FOUNDING  OF  ROBERT  COLLEGE. 

I  HAD  been  looking  for  a  site  for  the  proposed 
college  all  through  the  year  1859.  My  first 
chosen  site  was  unattainable.  The  owner  would  not 
treat  for  it  at  any  price.  The  twenty-fourth  site  I 
finally  purchased,  not  as  entirely  satisfactory,  but  as 
on  the  whole  the  best  attainable.  It  was  at  Korouch- 
eshme,  and  had  an  elevated  and  healthy  position. 
The  phases  of  that  bargain  are  too  many  to  narrate. 
The  intermediate  agents  endeavored  to  entrap  and 
cheat  me,  but  ignominiously  failed,  cunning  as  they 
were.     The  site  cost  about  ^7,000.^ 

The  first  of  May  arrived ;  my  direct  relation  with 
the  American  Board  ceased,  but  I  considered  myself 
more  of  a  missionary  than  ever,  as  now  I  should 
labor  for  all  the  races  of  the  empire. 

My  relations  with  the  secretaries  and  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee  have  always  been  cordial,  even  when 
we  differed.  Between  Dr.  Anderson  and  myself 
there  was  no  interruption  of  personal  friendship  and 
confidence,  only  neither  of  us  could  bend  the  other. 

*  See  Among  the  Turks,  chap.  xix. 

416 


41 6  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

It  is  fifty-five  years  since  I  was  appointed  by  the 
Committee  to  the  mission  in  Turkey.  Since  then 
secretaries  and  Prudential  Committee  have  all 
changed.  But  then  and  now,  and  during  all  the 
changes  and  differences,  I  have  regarded,  and  do 
regard  them  as  a  choice  selection  of  intelligent,  ear- 
nest, faithful,  Christian  gentlemen. 

It  had  been  agreed  between  me  and  Mr.  Robert, 
that  I  should  come  to  the  United  States  with  Mrs. 
Hamlin,  and  spend  a  year  in  getting  the  funds  needed 
for  launching  the  institution  on  its  adventurous  voy- 
age. Mr.  Robert  proposed  obtaining  a  subscription 
of  ;^  100,000.  He  would  head  the  list  with  $10,000, 
and  I  must  find,  with  his  aid,  nine  other  subscribers 
of  like  amount.  I  would  also  get  up  a  separate 
subscription  in  smaller  amounts  for  a  library  and  the 
beginning  of  a  laboratory.  He  proposed  to  begin 
in  this  moderate  way.  If  it  should  meet  with  suc- 
cess, it  would  be  easy,  he  thought,  to  enlarge.  He 
promised,  however,  to  provide  a  contingent  fund  of 
$30,000  to  meet  demands  not  foreseen. 

With  this  partial  plan  in  view,  we  put  our  house 
in  order.  We  placed  three  daughters,  Carrie,  Abbie, 
and  Clara,  at  the  Deaconesses'  School  in  Smyrna, 
our  dear  friend  and  missionary  sister  Mrs.  Ladd  hav- 
ing a  motherly  care  for  them.  We  left  Alfred  with 
Henrietta.     We   had   one   sore  trial   in  his   serious 


:^^9  ^\ 


#^ 


Ch 


KisToPHF.R  R.  Robert. 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE,      417 

illness.  I  thought  every  mail  would  bring  us  the 
news  of  a  great  bereavement  in  the  death  of  our 
only  son.  But  the  Lord  listened  to  our  daily  and 
constant  cry,  and  spared  him.  Not  without  deep 
emotions  of  anxiety  and  hope  did  I  leave  the  place 
of  more  than  twenty  years'  labor,  and  break  for  a 
time  so  many  bonds  of  Christian  sympathy  and 
cooperation,  and  leave  our  children  to  the  care  of 
others.  But  the  enterprise  was  a  great  one.  It  was 
to  open  the  first  Christian  college  in  Turkey.  Some 
Jesuit  institutions,  not  equal  to  our  ordinary  Ameri- 
can academy,  had  borne  that  name,  but  our  objectif 
was  an  American  college. 

We  went  by  way  of  Trieste  to  Venice,  where  we 
met  our  beloved  and  honored  nephew,  William 
Maltby,  professor-elect  of  modern  languages  in  Bow- 
doin  College.  He  was  a  young  man  of  rare  gifts, 
and  of  equally  rare  attainments  in  the  languages  and 
literature  of  Europe.  He  would  have  graced  the 
professorship  which  was  first  held  by  Longfellow, 
but  he  died  of  malarial  fever,  in  Madrid,  on  the  day 
which  had  been  fixed  upon  for  his  departure  home- 
ward to  assume  his  duties  in  the  college. 

We  reveled  for  a  few  days  in  charming  old  Ven- 
ice. Thence  we  went  to  Verona  and  Milan  for  the 
second  time,  where  we  surveyed  the  wonderful 
cathedral,  the  Coenaculum   of    Leonardo   da   Vinci, 


41 8  J^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

the  rooms  where  Napoleon  I.  wrote  the  Milan 
Decrees,  with  furniture,  and  curtains  even,  wonder- 
fully preserved. 

Before  reaching  Milan,  we  turned  aside  to  visit 
the  battlefield  of  Solferino,  on  the  day  of  its  first 
anniversary.  The  rank  and  unnatural  growths  upon 
the  long  lines  where  the  dead  were  buried  were  a 
revolting  proof  of  the  terrible  slaughter.  The  bat- 
tle raged  at  different  points  along  a  line  of  some 
miles  in  extent ;  and  it  was  wonderful  to  see  how 
many  signs  of  the  ravage  and  destruction  of  the 
terrible  day  still  remained  upon  the  ground.  The 
cottages,  although  an  entire  year  had  passed,  and 
though  the  place  must  have  been  visited  by  thou- 
sands, were  full  of  curiosities  to  sell.  I  bought,  for  a 
shilling,  one  of  Louis  Napoleon's  shells  for  rifle  can- 
non, which  I  brought  home  and  deposited  among  the 
curiosities  of  Bowdoin  College. 

From  Milan,  we  proceeded  to  and  sailed  over  the 
enchanting  Lake  Como,  and  then  took  the  diligence 
to  cross  the  Alps  by  the  Spliigen  Pass,  and  parted 
with  our  beloved  nephew,  to  see  him  no  more.  In 
crossing  the  Alps,  we  stopped  for  the  night  at  a 
miserable  hotel  in  Campodicino,  where  the  Little 
Corporal  made  his  first  treaty.  The  next  diligence 
would  pass  in  the  morning,  thus  permitting  us  to 
survey  all  the   grandeur  of  the    Spliigen   Pass    and 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      419 

the  Via  Mala  by  daylight  ;  and  we  were  well  repaid 
for  the  discomfort  of  the  inn.  Thence  we  went 
through  Ragatz  and  Basle  to  Heidelberg,  meeting 
some  Constantinople  friends,  and  visiting  with  much 
interest  the  Missionary  Institution  in  Basle. 

At  the  old  castle  in  Heidelberg  we  met  with  a 
German  lady  who  was  a  great  admirer  of  Long- 
fellow. I  afterwards  conveyed  to  him  a  message 
from  her,  with  which  he  seemed  much  pleased. 

From  Heidelberg  we  went  to  Mayence  ;  then,  by 
boat  down  the  Rhine  to  Cologne,  whose  wonderful 
cathedral  we  surveyed ;  then  hastened  on,  through 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  to  Paris.  At  Aix  we  stood  upon  the 
marble  slab  that  covers  the  tomb  of  Charlemagne. 

Of  course  in  Paris  we  visited  the  Louvre,  the 
Tuileries,  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  Hotel  des  Invalides, 
and  other  usual  objects  of  interest  to  travelers. 

In  crossing  the  stormy  channel  from  Calais  to 
Dover,  we  had  the  pleasure  of  rendering  some  aid  to 
an  elderly  English  gentleman,  Sir  Hugh  Hughes, 
M.P.,  in  the  care  of  his  two  grandchildren,  who 
were  fiercely  assaulted  by  seasickness.  His  grati- 
tude was  boundless.  He  would  have  taken  us  to  his 
house  in  London  and  kept  us  a  week,  could  we  have 
complied  with  his  urgent  invitation.  We  shall  never 
forget  the  kindness  and  social  amenity  of  this  fine 
old  English  gentleman. 


420  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

In  London,  we  took  lodging  in  Northumberland 
Street,  Strand,  a  street  famous  since  for  harboring 
singular  travelers.  At  number  seven  two  pleasant 
rooms,  with  breakfast  and  tea,  were  obtained  at  a 
very  reasonable  rate.  We  visited  the  British  Mu- 
seum, the  Tower,  the  Thames  Tunnel,  St.  Giles, 
and  other  places  of  historic  interest.  We  passed 
through  St.  Giles  without  a  policeman  and  without 
insult,  the  government  having  done  much  to  cleanse 
its  foul  dens. 

We  visited  the  Crystal  Palace,  on  Forester's  Day, 
when  about  seventy  thousand  went  down  from  Lon- 
don. At  3  P.M.  all  the  grand  fountains  were  set 
in  operation,  and  made  a  magnificent  show.  Look- 
ing upon  the  vast  multitude,  we  made  haste  to  take 
an  early  train  back  to  London.  Apparently,  many 
thousands  had  been  moved  by  the  same  idea,  and  the 
trains  were  crowded  to  the  utmost.  At  the  station 
near  London  Bridge,  in  the  room  for  lost  articles, 
there  were  already  hundreds  of  canes,  umbrellas, 
satchels,  shawls,  gloves,  lunch  baskets,  and  lunches 
done  up  in  various  forms,  gathered  that  day. 

We  were  invited  to  spend  an  afternoon  and  even- 
ing with  Rev.  Mr.  Layard,  cousin  of  Sir  Austen 
Henry  Layard,  near  Harrow-on-the-Hill.  While 
going  up  to  visit  that  interesting  school,  I  met  a 
squad   of   farm    laborers,  men    and    women,  seeking 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      42  I 

employment.  They  begged  a  shilling  to  buy  beer 
with.  They  declared  that  they  had  not  found  a 
day's  employment  for  two  weeks.  My  talk  with 
them  convinced  me  of  their  utter  misery.  Alas !  it 
was  no  worse  than  the  condition  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  farm  laborers  in  the  British  empire! 
It  is  singular  that  the  great  manufacturing  progress 
of  England  should  be  accompanied  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  her  agricultural  industries.  Free  trade  has 
evidently  been  a  curse  to  every  farm  in  England; 
and  it  would  be  the  same  in  this  country. 

In  the  fine  chapel  of  Harrow-on-the-Hill,  a  brass 
belt  skirts  the  wall,  upon  which  are  engraved  in  bold 
letters  the  names  of  distinguished  alumni.  I  read 
there  the  names  of  numbers  of  heroes  of  the 
Crimean  war. 

We  renewed  our  acquaintance  with  the  Stead- 
mans,  and  took  tea  with  them  in  their  fine  residence 
at  St.  John's  Wood.  Mr.  Steadman  was  a  retired 
African  merchant,  and  his  wife  a  cultivated  lady, 
niece  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  She  was  a 
fine  Greek  scholar.  She  had  the  learning,  and  he 
the  business  faculty  and  the  money.  They  were 
both  excellent  Christian  people,  warm  friends  of  our 
missionary  work. 

I  went  down  with  Sir  Culling  Eardley  to  spend  a 
night  and  day  at  his  country  seat.     Wealth  and  pov- 


42  2 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


erty  were  there  strongly  contrasted.  The  houses  of 
his  tenants  were  miserable,  and,  as  the  harvest  had 
been  almost  destroyed  by  excessive  rains,  the  ten- 
ants were  wretched  in  the  extreme.  He  remarked 
that  he  farmed  out  his  estate  to  a  farmer  who  sub- 
let the  holdings,  and  he  had  really  nothing  to  do 
with  the  tenants.  He  acknowledged  that  the  pov- 
erty of  the  farm  laborers  in  general  was  a  monstrous 
evil  which  no  individual  could  mitigate. 

We  sailed  from  Liverpool,  where  we  experienced 
the  kindness  of  Mr.  James  and  family.  The  mission 
at  Constantinople  and  Robert  College  are  indebted 
to  them  for  many  kind  and  generous  acts. 

Our  passage  in  the  Cunarder  America  was  most 
uncomfortable.  She  was  unfit  for  the  voyage.  The 
waves,  breaking  over  her  decks,  leaked  down  into  all 
the  staterooms.  The  water,  during  a  storm  of  four 
days,  was  about  half  an  inch  deep  on  the  floor  of 
most  of  the  staterooms.  We  could  dress  and 
undress  only  under  an  umbrella  in  our  own  state- 
room. Many  ladies  lost  valuable  dresses  by  soaking 
in  sea  water.  The  passengers  talked  loudly  of  an 
action  against  the  company  for  damages.  But,  once 
on  land,  the  joy  of  being  safe  over  dispelled  all 
thoughts  of  revenge  or  remuneration. 

We  landed  in  Boston  a  few  weeks  before  the  jubi- 
lee of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  which  was  pretty  near  my 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      423 

own  jubilee,  as  I  was  born  a  few  months  after  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Board.  Although  I  made  a 
number  of  missionary  addresses,  my  sole  work  was 
to  raise  ;$  100,000  with  which  to  commence  the 
American  College.  At  that  time  Dr.  Anderson,  and 
consequently  the  orthodox  clergy  of  Boston,  did  not 
look  with  much  favor  upon  the  enterprise.  Dr. 
Anderson  was  for  vernacular  education  solely.  The 
college  designed  to  unite  all  languages  in  the  Eng- 
lish and  to  make  the  English  language  the  medium 
of  study  and  instruction.  The  Outlook  Committee 
of  the  Congregational  Club  refused  to  authorize  my 
presenting  the  subject  to  the  churches  in  Boston. 
But  Harvard  College  favored  it  —  Professors  Felton 
and  Agassiz,  and  Professor  Parker,  of  the  Law 
School,  and  ex-Governor  Washburn.  I  was  invited 
by  Edward  Everett  Hale,  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
and  Dr.  Bartol  to  address  their  people,  and  after 
that  Congregational  pulpits  were  open.  With  much 
labor,  and  with  the  aid  of  powerful  friends,  I 
succeeded  in  getting  up  a  great  meeting  in 
Tremont  Temple.  The  platform  was  a  brilliant 
one  ;  the  speaking  excellent.  The  results  in  Boston 
and  vicinity  were  not  great,  amounting  to  about 
^13,000. 

Harvard   College    gave    us    a    valuable    donation 
of  law  books.     Through    the  agency  of    Professors 


424  ^^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Felton  and  Agassiz  I  was  invited  to  address  the 
American  Academy.  After  the  address,  I  was 
subjected  to  a  lively  cross-examination,  in  which 
Professor  Agassiz  made  himself  very  conspicuous. 
The  questions  followed  each  other  with  amusing 
rapidity;  so  soon  as  he  saw  that  he  had  the  gist 
of  an  answer,  he  followed  with  another  question. 
When  through,  he  turned  to  those  near  him  and 
said,  *'  Gentlemen,  we  have  here  one  who  knows 
something  about  Turkey."  The  design  was  to 
expend  all  the  Boston  subscriptions  upon  the 
library,  but  the  political  excitement  of  the  presi- 
dential election  broke  up  our  plan.  A  contem- 
plated meeting  in  Boston,  over  which  Edward 
Everett  was  to  preside,  was  postponed  on  account 
of  the  intense  excitement  prevailing.  The  friends 
in  New  York,  also,  advised  postponing  all  efforts 
there  until  after  the  election,  and  perhaps  the 
inauguration. 

In  the  meantime,  I  was  getting  architectural  plans 
for  the  college,  having  two  English  and  two  Ameri- 
can plans  proffered  to  me.  These  became  valuable 
aids  in  studying  the  building  we  needed,  though 
neither  of  them  was  finally  adopted. 

The  preliminary  efforts  for  the  raising  of  ^100,000 
promised  well.  Mr.  Williston,  the  celebrated  button 
manufacturer  of   Northampton,  would  give  $10,000, 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE,      425 

and  thought  he  could  name  the  persons  who  would 
fill  the  ''rest  of  the  bill." 

But  the  election  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  so  far 
from  allaying  the  excitement,  only  increased  it.  As 
I  could  do  nothing  for  the  college,  I  occupied  my- 
self, by  Mr.  Robert's  advice,  in  giving  lectures  upon 
Turkey.  In  this  way  I  earned  about  a  thousand 
dollars.  I  paid  our  expenses,  purchased  furniture 
and  books,  and  kept  myself  out  of  idleness.  My 
wife  spent  several  months  at  Clifton  Springs,  under 
the  kind  care  of  Dr.  Foster  and  Miss  Dr.  Green. 

I  visited  the  Corliss  steam  engine  manufactory 
at  Providence,  in  order  to  obtain  a  small  steam  engine 
and  other  machinery  for  use  in  the  woodwork  of 
the  proposed  college.  Mr.  Corliss  became  interested 
in  the  college,  and  gave  me  a  receipted  bill  amount- 
ing to  $1,300  for  the  engine  and  machinery  pur- 
chased. Up  to  that  date,  it  was  the  largest  dona- 
tion that  he  had  ever  made  to  any  charitable  object. 
I  spent  the  night  of  April  12,  1 861,  at  his  house. 
In  the  morning,  after  breakfast,  as  I  was  crossing  the 
street  to  call  upon  my  cousin,  Professor  Robinson  P. 
Dunn,  of  Brown  University,  I  saw  him  coming  out 
of  his  door  with  a  slip  in  his  hand.  He  exclaimed, 
**  Dr.  Hamlin,  the  war  has  commenced  !  The  rebels 
are  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  !  "  Profound  excitement 
reigned    throughout    the    community.     Some    said : 


426  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES.  ^ 

"  A  death  blow  to  slavery  !  "  Others  :  "  A  southern 
republic  — let  them  go  !  " 

I  went  that  day  to  New  York ;  I  was  amazed  to 
see  the  whole  city  fluttering  with  American  flags. 
The  steeples  of  many  churches  were  dressed  with 
the  flags.  It  amazed  me  that  so  many  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  flags  could  be  produced  in 
so  short  a  time.  This  killed  the  college  movement 
as  dead  as  a  doornail.  Mr.  Williston  said  :  **  Nobody 
knows  that  he  will  be  worth  ^10,000  in  one  year 
from  this  time  !  We  are  going  to  have  a  fearful  and 
bloody  struggle."  I  was  in  perplexity  as  to  what  I 
should  do.  Cyrus  W.  Field  proposed  that  I  should 
join  him  in  contracts  for  supplying  the  army  with 
bread.  He  thought  my  Crimean  war  experience 
might  accrue  very  greatly  to  my  advantage  and  to 
his.  But  Mr.  Robert  was  not  a  man  to  put  his  hand 
to  the  plow  and  then  turn  back.  He  had  undertaken 
to  build  an  institution  of  learning  in  Constantinople, 
and,  if  need  be,  he  would  do  it  alone. 

One  morning,  after  breakfast,  he  took  me  aside 
and  said  :  "  Yesterday  I  put  $30,000  worth  of  railroad 
bonds  into  the  hands  of  trustees.  You  return  and 
erect  the  building  as  far  as  that  money  will  go.  By 
that  time  this  affair  of  the  South  will  be  finished.'* 

I  had  contracted  for  the  windows  and  doors  of  the 
building  in  Lowell. 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      427 

We  left,  early  in  May,  in  order  to  return  and  com- 
mence the  work.  Machinery,  furniture,  and  manu- 
factured articles  were  immediately  to  follow  us.  We 
sailed  in  the  Arabia  ;  had  a  comfortable  passage  and 
good  accommodations.  In  Liverpool  and  London 
we  found  there  was  one  subject  —  the  American 
war.  Intelligent  persons  of  distinction  showed  the 
most  marvelous  ignorance  of  our  country  and  all  its 
environs.  We  were  invited  to  pass  an  evening  at 
the  house  of  Rev.  Dr.  Raffles,  of  Liverpool,  where 
we  met  some  fifteen  or  twenty  persons,  all  eager  to 
learn  our  views  of  the  war  in  prospect.  A  titled 
and  bejeweled  lady  said  that  she  "  did  not  think 
there  would  be  any  war  !  Havana  would  not  per- 
mit it ! " 

In  London,  I  dined  with  a  few  gentlemen  at  a  club, 
representing  the  Church,  architecture,  law,  and  com- 
merce. It  was  evidently  a  coterie  intensely  inter- 
ested in  the  American  question.  They  were  all  for 
the  South.  I  expressed  my  surprise  at  the  incredible 
change  which  had  come  over  British  public  senti- 
ments with  regard  to  slavery  and  slaveholders.  I 
should  have  said  beforehand,  with  the  greatest  confi- 
dence, that  their  sympathies  would  be  with  the  North 
and  with  freedom.  Finally  one  of  them  said  with 
great  frankness:  "The  truth  is,  Dr.  Hamlin,  we 
think  the  great  republic    is   too    big   already !     Let 


428  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

it  be  separated  into  two  republics  !     They  will  watch 
each  other ;  and  Europe  will  feel  greatly  relieved  1 " 

This  was  undoubtedly  the  key  to  the  general  run 
of  British  sentiment ;  and  then,  it  was  believed 
that  free  trade  with  the  South  would  also  compel 
free  trade  with  the  North ;  then  England's  felicity 
would  be  complete ! 

I  called  upon  the  noble  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  to  talk 
about  Turkish  missions  and  our  projected  college. 
He  was  blinded  equally  with  the  rest  ;  and  our  in- 
terview, on  the  whole,  was  not  a  very  pleasant  one. 
The  subject  of  Turkish  missions  was  not  mentioned. 
His  views,  however,  were  much  changed  before  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  was  one  of  the  noblest  and 
best  of  men.  Although  he  held  his  views  firmly,  he 
was  not  one  of  those  who  cannot  be  convinced  of  an 
error. 

We  went  by  Paris,  Macon,  Dijon,  and  Mont 
Cenis  Pass  to  Turin.  At  the  Paris  station  we  were 
surprised  and  delighted  to  find  the  Hon.  George 
P.  Marsh  and  Mrs.  Marsh  our  fellow  passengers. 
Mr.  Marsh  was  our  embassador  at  Turin,,  then  the 
capital.  Turkish  and  American  and  English  affairs 
were  discussed  all  the  way  to  Macon,  where  they 
stopped  to  rest  overnight.  Mr.  Marsh  was  one  who 
could  see  the  hand  of  Russia  where  she  most  tried 
to  conceal  it.     He  regarded   Count   Cavour   as    the 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      429 

regenerator  of  Italy.  He  expressed  no  special  anxi- 
ety about  his  illness.  We  continued  our  journey, 
and  crossed  Mont  Cenis  in  a  terrible  hailstorm  in 
the  night.  We  were  dragged  slowly  up  the  steep 
inclines  by  eleven  mules.  We  rushed  down  on  the 
other  side,  with  four  horses,  in  darkness  and  rattling 
hail,  upon  the  full  gallop.  It  seemed  terrific  driving, 
but  we  went  down  safely  into  warmth  and  sunshine. 
In  going  up,  we  passed  the  mouth  of  Mont  Cenis 
Tunnel,  and  saw  the  iron  water  towers  so  ingeniously 
used  for  sending  in  compressed  air,  both  for  drilling 
and  ventilation.  It  was  not  finished  till  1871.  We 
arrived  in  Turin  the  night  of  Count  Cavour's  death. 
It  clothed  Turin  and  all  Italy  in  mourning. 

I  lost  Mrs.  Hamlin  in  the  Public  Gardens  by  going 
to  hunt  up  a  cab,  and  we  had  "a  time  of  it."  Just  as 
I  had  given  up,  and  was  going  to  consult  the  consul, 
I  met  the  wanderer,  wandering  and  wondering  !  From 
Turin  we  went  to  Venice,  where  we  spent  a  week.  I 
investigated  there  and  at  Trieste  the  timber  and 
board  market,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  I  had 
better  purchase  the  material  for  the  building  in 
those  markets  or  at  Galatz,  on  the  Danube.  After 
getting  all  the  data  that  I  needed,  and  making  the 
acquaintance  of  certain  firms,  we  proceeded  to 
Constantinople. 

A  few  days  after   our   arrival   there,  the  friendly 


430 


MY  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 


Sultan  Abdul  Medjid  died,  and  Abdul  Aziz  reigned 
in  his  stead. 

Having  been  forbidden  to  build  on  the  site  pur- 
chased before  leaving  for  America,  and  our  advisory 
committee  being  unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  it 
would  not  be  wise  to  prosecute  any  claim,  I  was 
thrown  into  great  doubt  and  perplexity.  But,  in  a 
short  time,  the  original  site,  the  one  which  I  had 
first  chosen  —  where  the  college  now  stands  —  was 
offered  me,  at  a  reasonable  price.  My  heart  leaped 
for  joy :  for  not  only  was  the  site  itself  every  way 
preferable,  but  it  contained  excellent  building  stone, 
right  upon  the  spot  where  the  building  would  be 
erected.  In  the  first  site,  the  expense  of  trans- 
porting the  building  materials  would  have  been 
immense.  Here  they  were  upon  the  spot.  The 
stone,  too,  was  of  the  very  best  quality.  The  neigh- 
boring towers,  built  in  1452  and  1453,  were  con- 
structed from  it ;  and  four  centuries  had  produced  no 
apparent  effect  upon  them.  The  prohibition  to  build 
on  the  first  site  proved  a  priceless  blessing.  So  our 
afiflictions  are  often  blessings  in  disguise. 

I  purchased  the  ground  of  the  celebrated  Ahmed 
Vefyk  Effendi,  afterwards  pasha,  on  the  condition 
that  the  money  should  be  paid  over  when  the  gov- 
ernment should  give  a  legal  permit  to  build  the  col- 
lege upon  that  spot.     After  a  delay  of  some  months, 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      43  I 

the  permission  was  given  ;  and  the  money,  conse- 
quently, was  paid  over  and  the  deeds  transferred.  On 
careful  examination  of  the  limits,  I  found,  to  my 
consternation,  that  a  pernicious  triangle  of  land, 
cutting  into  the  very  center  of  our  site,  was  owned 
by  another  person.  This  was  purchased  for  eighty 
pounds,  before  the  owner  knew  what  an  immense 
injury  it  might  have  been  to  us. 

When  I  went  to  the  site,  and  had  begun  prepara- 
tions for  building,  an  officer  from  the  Sublime  Porte 
came  and  said  :  **  Some  formalities  are  still  not  com- 
pleted, and  you  must  wait  until  they  are."  In  answer 
to  the  question  "  How  long  }  "  he  said  :  **  Perhaps  a 
couple  of  weeks."  "  What  formalities  }  "  He  did  not 
know. 

I  was  not  long  in  finding  out  that  the  Abbe  Bore, 
the  chief  of  the  Jesuit  missions,  had  started  the 
opposition  to  the  enterprise.  He  might  well  be  ex- 
cused for  doing  so ;  for  he  had  long  endeavored  to 
obtain  leave  to  build  a  college  at  some  conspicuous 
point,  but  had  failed.  The  Turks  had  for  four  hun- 
dred years  guarded  the  Bosphorus  from  any  such 
Christian  contamination.  Now,  that  a  Yankee  should 
accomplish  what  he,  with  the  power  of  France  behind 
him,  had  been  unable  to  do,  was  naturally  intoler- 
able. And  he  could  find  many  and  powerful  op- 
ponents to  join  with  him  in  securing  this  prohibition. 


432  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

All  the  Catholic  embassies  were  hostile  to  all  our 
efforts.  But  the  active  and  vigorous  opposition  of 
Russia  was  more  effective  with  the  Turks  than  all 
the  rest  put  together. 

The  American  embassy  (Hon.  E.  Joy  Morris  being 
minister  resident)  was  not  disposed  to  take  an  active 
part  in  protection  of  the  college.  It  was  not  a  ques- 
tion of  commerce ;  and  Mr.  Morris  declared  that,  as 
our  treaty  was  a  commercial  one,  he  had  no  impera- 
tive duties  in  the  case.  I  asked  him  if  the  question 
had  involved  a  cargo  of  rum  belonging  to  a  mer- 
chant, what  he  would  do.  He  replied  that  he  should 
certainly  interfere  in  such  a  case. 

I  then  applied  to  the  English  embassy,  held  then 
by  a  charg6  d'affaires,  the  embassador  being  absent. 
The  charge  was  very  polite;  said  he  would  use  his 
influence  officionsly,  but  could  not  do  it  officially} 
It  did  not  require  many  months  to  convince  me 
that  the  obstacles  were  too  formidable  to  be  over- 
come, unless  England  should  interfere  most  positively 
on  our  behalf.  Our  claim  was  a  notoriously  just 
one ;  and  it  could  not  be  that  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment would  forever  resist  it. 

The  fearful  war  between  the  South  and  North  was 
raging,  and  I  feared  that  Mr.  Robert  would  throw  up 

1  This  use  of  "  officious"  and  "  official  "  is  very  common  in  Constantinople  diplo- 
macy.    It  is  perhaps  confined  to  that  court.     It  means  simply  unofficial. 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      433 

the  enterprise.  But,  on  the  contrary,  as  difficulties 
increased  his  determination  increased.  I  sent  him 
a  letter  every  two  weeks,  telling  him,  with  the  utmost 
frankness,  everything  that  had  been  done.  He  gen- 
erally approved  my  course,  and  said  :  "  We  will  fight 
it  out  to  the  end.  You  and  I,  Dr.  Hamlin,  will  still 
see  this  thing  through."  He  was  the  man  for  the 
time  and  the  work. 

As  it  became  more  and  more  evident  that  the 
delay  might  be  a  very  long  one,  a  way  suggested  it- 
self by  which  I  might  turn  the  flank  of  the  enemy 
and  open  the  college,  without  asking  anybody's  leave. 
The  Bebek  Seminary  having  been  removed  to  Marso- 
van,  its  premises  were  standing  vacant.  There  was 
a  principle  of  the  Turkish  government  which,  up  to 
that  date,  had  been  held  inviolate.  That  was  adet 
—  prescriptive  right.  Anything  that  had  been  estab- 
lished for  a  length  of  time,  known  to  the  people  and 
to  the  government,  and  not  interfered  with,  had 
thereby  earned  the  right  of  continued  existence.  A 
common  saying  there  is  that  "the  sultan's  firman 
cannot  abolish  adet !  "  Accordingly  I  wrote  to  Mr. 
Robert  that,  if  he  would  make  arrangements  with 
the  American  Board  for  the  use  of  that  property,  and 
would  authorize  the  expense  of  thoroughly  repair- 
ing and  painting  it,  I  would  open  the  college  in 
that  building   without  asking   leave.     I  had  been  a 


434 


MV    LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


teacher,, and  had  had  an  institution  of  learning  there 
for  twenty  years.  That  was  adet  in  a  very  strong 
form. 

He  readily  acceded  to  this,  and  the  great  building, 
which  at  its  erection  in  1798-99  had  been  painted  a 
dead  black,  was  thoroughly  repainted  a  fashionable 
color ;  and  the  side  and  end  most  affected  by  the 
weather  were  thoroughly  reboarded.  The  seminary 
workshop  was  changed  into  a  laboratory,  and  many 
other  important  changes  were  made.  An  expense  of 
about  three  thousand  dollars  put  the  building  into 
excellent  order. 

When  we  came  to  make  out  the  program,  which 
I  wished  to  distribute,  in  some  five  or  six  languages, 
it  became  necessary  to  have  a  name  for  the  college. 
The  advisory  committee  objected  to  the  name 
"  American  College,"  as  being  too  much  tainted  with 
democracy.  "  The  College  of  Constantinople  "  was 
proposed,  but  objected  to,  as  being  too  assuming. 
"The  Oriental  College"  {le  College  d' Orient)  was 
objected  to  by  some  as  being  untrue,  because  it  was 
an  Occidental  College.  And  so  every  name  pro- 
posed was  objected  to  by  one  or  two  persons.  I  said 
to  them  :  "  Well,  gentlemen,  this  is  very  singular,  if 
we  can  have  a  college,  but  cannot  find  a  name  for  it  f 
I  propose  that  we  call  it  '  Robert  College  ! '  "  This 
was  received  by  acclamation.     It  was  run  through  the 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE, 


435 


various  forms  that  it  would  take  in  Turkish,  Greek, 
Armenian,  etc.,  and  it  seemed  to  fit  them  all.  To 
the  multitude  it  would  mean  nothing  ;  it  would 
offend  nobody  —  it  would  be  merely  a  name.  When 
Mr.  Robert  heard  of  it  he  protested  against  it.  But 
it  was  in  vain  ;  the  name  had  already  gone  forth,  in 
six  or  seven  languages. 

The  Abbe  Bore  found  himself  checkmated  by 
this  move.  He  went  to  the  grand  vizier  with  the 
assertion  that  this  was  altogether  a  new  institution, 
entirely  different  from  the  one  I  had  had  there  for 
twenty  years.  This  would  be  a  most  dangerous  one, 
and  I  ought  to  be  suppressed.  The  Turk  coolly 
replied  :  "  Mr.  Hamlin  has  had  an  institution  there 
for  twenty  years  —  and  may  have  for  twenty  years 
more,  for  aught  we  care.  As  to  the  different  names 
these  giaours  give  to  their  institutions,  it  makes  no 
difference  to  us  !  " 

So  Robert  College  was  opened  in  1863.  In  the 
faculty  I  had  the  assistance  of  two  American  pro- 
fessors, Rev.  George  Perkins  and  Rev.  Henry  A. 
SchaufiBer  ;  a  Gre^k  professor,  Mr.  Kazakos  ;  a  pro- 
fessor of  French,  M.  Dalem  ;  a  professor  of  Italian 
and  of  design,  M.  Marchesi  ;  and,  at  a  later  period, 
as  professor  of  Armenian,  Mr.  Hagopos  Gigizian ; 
besides  other  teachers  employed  at  various  times  for 
specific  objects. 


436 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


The  college  opened  with  four  students.  Its  growth 
was  slow  during  the  first  two  years,  amounting  to 
about  thirty  or  thirty-five  students.  These  youth 
were  mostly  of  foreign  extraction.  The  native  pop- 
ulation regarded  the  school  with  suspicion.  The 
Protestants  were  generally  too  poor  to  pay  the  ;^200 
demanded  for  board  and  tuition.  Persons  began  to 
say,  "  I  told  you  so  !  The  whole  thing  is  an  ab- 
surdity. You  will  never  get  scholars  from  among 
the  Armenians,  Greeks,  Bulgarians  !  "  etc.  But  I 
was  not  discouraged.  I  had  made  an  agreement 
with  Mr.  Robert  to  try  the  experiment  for  five  years, 
before  we  should  pronounce  it  either  a  failure  or  a 
success.  At  length,  during  the  second  year,  I  had 
one  Armenian,  one  Greek,  and  one  Bulgarian  enter 
the  college.  After  this  the  numbers  rapidly  in- 
creased, until  the  building  was  filled. 

When  the  fifth  year  arrived,  the  college  had  be- 
come very  nearly  self-supporting,  and  the  experi- 
ment had  become  a  great  success,  far  beyond  our 
highest  expectations.  Mr.  Robert  felt  rewarded  for 
remaining  firm  to  a  hopeless  cause. 

The  college  was  confined  to  these  narrow  premises 
for  eight  years.  The  greatest  number  of  students 
that  we  could  possibly  receive  was  seventy-two, 
and  we  had  to  reject  scores  of  applicants.  But  this 
was  by  no  means  an  unmitigated  evil,  as  the  small 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      437 

number  of  students  gave  us  a  better  opportunity  to 
try  different  systems  of  management,  and  to  con- 
vince all  connected  with  the  college  that  the  English 
must  be  the  chief  language  of  education.  A  pre- 
paratory department  was  accordingly  organized,  in 
which  every  student  should  be  fitted  for  the  college 
course.  Our  excellent  friend,  Count  de  Zuylen  de 
Nyvelt,  was  very  earnest  to  have  the  French  of  equal 
use  with  the  English.  But  that  created  confusion, 
and  was  abandoned. 

While  the  college  was  thus  developed,  in  those 
hired  premises,  I  set  myself  to  prosecute  the  claim 
for  leave  to  build  on  the  splendid  site  we  had  pur- 
chased. Our  claim  was  so  evidently  a  legal  and  a 
righteous  one  that  I  resolved  never  to  give  over  the 
contest.  I  soon  found  there  were  fearful  odds 
against  me.  I  was  not  long  in  finding  the  most 
direct  proof,  from  his  own  Oriental  secretary,  that 
the  opposition  was  initiated  by  the  Abbe  Bore,  the 
chief  of  the  Jesuit  missions  in  the  East.  He  had 
then  great  influence  in  the  French  embassy,  and 
guided  its  policy  in  religious  matters.  I  found  later 
convincing  proofs  of  a  more  powerful  and  subtle 
adverse  influence.  It  came  from  Russia,  who  has 
never  gone  back  on  the  declaration  of  M.  Boutineff  : 
"  Russia  will  never  allow  Protestantism  to  set  its 
foot  in  Turkey !  " 


438  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

I  inferred  this  opposition  from  Russia  from  the 
fact  that  every  active  opponent  of  the  college  in  the 
Sublime  Porte  was  of  the  Russian  party,  and  known 
to  be  under  Ignatieff's  influence.  A  very  intelligent 
Turkish  gentleman  was  evidently  amused  at  the 
simplicity  of  my  inquiries  on  this  point,  as  though 
common  sense  might  teach  me  better  than  to  have  a 
doubt.  I  hoped  to  weary  the  Turks  by  perpetual 
applications,  if  in  no  other  way ;  and  the  Grand 
Vizier,  Aali  Pasha,  did  become  so  irritated  that  he 
once  said  in  vexation  :  "  Will  this  Mr.  Hamlin  never 
die,  and  let  me  alone  on  this  college  question }  " 

To  narrate  the  diplomacy  of  seven  years  would 
make  an  exceedingly  wearisome  story.  A  few  epi- 
sodes stand  out  in  rather  strong  relief,  and  I  will 
only  mention  them. 

The  American  embassy,  under  Hon.  E.  Joy 
Morris,  for  a  long  time  refused  active  interference, 
because  he  regarded  it  as  a  religious  and  not  a  com- 
mercial question.  Sir  Henry  Bulwer,  the  English 
embassador,  took  it  up  with  spirit,  and  promised  to 
secure  the  leave  to  build.  After  some  months,  he 
wrote  me  a  note  to  say  that  he  had  finished  the 
question,  and  that  in  a  few  days  the  legal  permit 
would  be  issued.  I  waited,  perhaps,  twice  that 
period,  and  then  received  another  note  from  Sir 
Henry,  saying  that  I  had  made  an  unwise  bargain  in 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      439 

purchasing  such  a  prominent  site  on  the  Bosphorus. 
I  should  have  known  that  the  Turks  would  never 
allow  me  to  build  there.  The  penalty  of  my  indis- 
cretion should  fall  upon  my  own  head.  The  English 
embassy  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the 
question. 

I  soon  found  the  explanation  of  all  this.  Sir 
Henry  had  received  a  bribe  of  $50,000,  and  $5,000 
more  for  one  of  his  mistresses,  the  Countess  Guisti- 
niani,  from  the  khedive  of  Egypt,  to  settle  a  quarrel 
he  had  with  the  sultan.  The  grand  vizier  agreed  to 
settle  the  quarrel  if  Sir  Henry  would  abandon  three 
questions  —  the  Bulgarian,  the  Servian,  and  the 
American  College.  To  this  Sir  Henry  immediately 
acceded,  and  hence  his  second  note  to  me. 

This  bribery  affair  cost  Bulwer  his  place,  and  he 
was  recalled.  Bulwer  was  a  man  of  the  most  infa- 
mous morals,  but  he  was  such  an  adept  in  craft  and 
intrigue,  and  was  so  successful  in  cajoling  callow 
statesmen  into  treaties  injurious  to  them  but  advan- 
tageous to  England,  that  the  English  government  so 
valued  his  services  as  to  condone  his  moral  character. 
He  was  the  author  of  our  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty. 

His  successor  was  Lord  Lyons,  a  man  of  excellent 
and  noble  character.  He  also  took  up  the  question 
with  interest,  and  thought  he  had  brought  it  to  a  con- 
clusion, when  he  was  called  to  Paris.     As  soon  as  he 


440 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


was  fairly  out  of  the  way,  Aali  Pasha  sent. for  me  to 
call  at  his  palace.  He  proposed  to  swap  a  worthless 
piece  of  ground  which  belonged  to  himself  for  the 
magnificent  college  site !  As  it  was  rather  a  steep 
place,  I  told  him  a  college  built  there  would  run 
down  hill  into  the  gutter !  He  laughed,  and  said  he 
had  another  piece,  which  he  would  like  to  have  me 
look  at,  and  in  a  day  or  two  he  would  send  a  man 
to  show  me  the  place.  It  was  still  more  absurdly 
unfit  for  a  college.  After  examining  it,  I  wrote  him 
a  note,  saying  that  I  declined  treating  any  further 
for  exchange  of  places.  I  made  one  effort  to  reach 
his  judgment  in  the  case,  through  a  letter  which  I 
addressed  to  the  Protestant  Vekil.  In  this  letter  I 
argued  the  case  as  Aali  Pasha  ought  to  argue  it  in 
his  own  mind,  and  I  asked  the  Vekil  why  a  gentle- 
man of  so  much  intelligence  as  Aali  Pasha  should 
take  a  course  so  much  opposed  to  Turkish  interests. 
I  assured  him  that  political  complications  would 
finally  compel  the  pasha  to  grant  a  great  deal  more 
than  we  now  asked.  I  then  wrote  a  private  letter 
to  the  Vekil,  asking  him  to  translate  my  letter  into 
good  Turkish,  and  to  inform  the  pasha  that  he  had 
such  a  letter,  and,  as  a  public  officer,  felt  bound  to 
offer  it  to  the  pasha  if  he  would  like  to  read  it. 
The  pasha  said  :  "  Certainly.  You  will  forward  it  to 
me  and  I  shall  examine  it."     After  a  few  days,  he 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      44 1 

returned  it  with  the  remark,  "  The  letter  contains 
important  considerations,  which  will  receive  due 
attention." 

I  made  two  distinct  efforts  with  the  Liberal  party 
in  the  Turkish  government,  which  was  then  a  party 
of  considerable  power,  and  had  in  it  two  very  dis- 
tinguished men.  I  first  applied  to  Fuad  Pasha,  a 
very  popular  man,  a  very  witty  man,  fascinating  in 
diplomatic  society  ;  a  statesman,  but  not  the  equal 
of  Aali  Pasha  in  craft.  He  arranged  to  have  the 
question  referred  to  the  neighboring  village  of 
Hissar.  If  they  had  no  objections,  the  college  must 
be  built.  This  would  be  according  to  immemorial 
usage  in  such  cases. 

A  public  meeting  was  called  at  Hissar,  on  Sunday, 
to  get  the  mind  of  the  village.  I  declined  to  be 
present  because  it  was  Sunday.  But  the  village 
assembly  took  place.  The  villagers  were  in  great 
perturbation.  They  did  not  wish  to  offend  either 
party  ;  they  did  not  know  what  might  be  the  con- 
sequences. But  they  were  fully  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion.^ When  they  were  asked,  "  Are  you  willing 
that  this  college  should  be  built  at  the  designated 
place } "  they  replied,  "  We  are  the  obedient  serv- 
ants of  the  government.  *  If  the  government  wants 

1  They  had  received  their  instruction  from  Ahmed  Vefyk  Effendi,  who  knew  that 
agents  of  the  grand  vizier  were  at  work  in  the  village.  Ahmed  Vefyk  ruled 
Hissar. 


442  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

it  to  be  built  there,  we  want  it ;  and  if  the  govern- 
ment does  n't  want  it  there,  we  don't  want  it  there ! " 
Nothing  could  drive  them  from  the  repetition  of  this 
formula,  and  so  the  assembly  broke  up.  Neverthe- 
less, Aali  Pasha  wrote  to  our  minister  that  the  in- 
veterate opposition  of  the  Hissar  people  made  it 
impossible  to  grant  our  request !  I  immediately 
replied  to  the  minister  that  that  was  **  a  confounded 
lie  !  "  and  I  hope  he  sent  the  note  to  Aali  Pasha. 

In  the  winter  of  iZ^j-^Zy  Midhat  Pasha,  the  most 
intelligent  and  able  patriot  Turkey  has  had  in  this 
century,  was  made  grand  vizier,  to  the  surprise  and 
delight  of  all  the  Liberal  friends  of  Turkey.  He 
had  entire  confidence  in  me  —  had  on  one  occasion 
shown  me  a  singular  favor  —  and  I  felt  sure  of  suc- 
cess with  him. 

I  waited  until  he  should  get  well  into  his  place,, 
and  then  sent  him  a  statement  and  petition,  which 
he  received  in  the  most  friendly  manner,  and  had  he 
remained  in  office  two  weeks  longer,  our  permission 
to  build  would  have  been  granted.  I  now  rejoice  in 
what  was  then  a  great  disappointment  to  us. 

There  was  also  the  Morgan  and  Seward  episode. 
Mr.  Morgan,  a  wealthy  banker  of  New  York  and 
friend  of  Seward,  visiting  Constantinople,  was  in- 
vited to  the  site  of  the  college.  He  was  so  charmed 
with  it  and    so   indignant   with   the   treatment   the 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      443 

question  had  received,  that  he  said  that  on  his  re- 
turn he  would  go  immediately  to  Washington  to 
see  Mr.  Seward,  and  make  him  acquainted  with  it 
all.  I  told  him  Mr.  Robert  had  already  been  to 
Washington  to  see  Mr.  Seward,  but  had  got  no  en- 
couragement from  him  whatever.  "  Of  course  not !  " 
he  said.  **  Mr.  Robert  is  a  Puritan,  as  true  and  as 
blue  as  steel  !  The  moment  he  should  enter  Mr. 
Seward's  office,  there  would  be  antagonism  between 
them  !  But  I  can  make  him  understand  it,  and  as 
soon  as  I  return  I  shall  go  to  Washington  for  this 
express  purpose." 

I  gave  him  the  formula  of  a  dispatch  that  I  would 
like  to  have  Seward  forward  to  our  minister,  with 
the  order  to  read  it  to  Aali  Pasha.  He  was  faithful 
to  his  promise,  and  the  result  was  that  Blacque  Bey, 
the  Turkish  minister  to  Washington,  wrote  to  Aali 
Pasha  that  "  it  would  be  well  to  settle  that  college 
question  favorably  to  the  Americans,  or  by-and-by  it 
would  become  a  thorny  question" — ime  questioji 
cpineiLse!  Still,  nothing  came  from  it,  and  nothing 
came  from  anything. 

Passing  over  many  things,  I  will  mention  but  one 
more  —  the  visit  of  Admiral  Farragut  to  Constanti- 
nople. His  coming  excited  great  interest,  and 
seemed  to  move  the  whole  city.  It  was  to  have  a 
very  peculiar  connection   with   the  college   question... 


444 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


which  no  one  of  us  understood  at  the  time,  nor  did 
we  understand  it  until  more  than  two  years  after- 
ward. 

One  day,  during  his  visit,  Alfred  came  into  my 
study  and  said  :  "  Father,  won't  you  take  me  down  to 
see  our  great  admiral  ?  "  I  replied  :  "  No,  my  son  ; 
we  spent  a  whole  day  in  trying  to  see  the  crown 
prince  of  Prussia  (the  late  empercr),  and  did  not  see 
him  after  all.  We  should  probably  have  the  same 
luck.  I  should  like  to  see  him  very  much,  but  I 
can't  spend  a  whole  day  to  7iot  see  a  man.'* 

As  the  boy  turned  to  go  out,  the  unmistakable 
look  of  disappointment  upon  his  countenance  re- 
minded me  how  I  would  have  felt,  when  a  boy,  at 
such  a  rebuff,  under  such  circumstances.  I  said  to 
him :  "  Look  here,  Alfred  :  I  will  go  down  with  you 
early  to-morrow  morning ;  and  if  we  see  the  old 
hero,  well  and  good.  If  not,  we  shall  come  right 
home." 

"  I  '11  agree  to  that,  father  !  "  said  the  boy ;  and  so 
we  went. 

We  found  the  admiral  alone  in  his  room.  He 
asked  me  at  once  if  I  were  a  resident  in  Turkey,  and 
what  was  my  occupation.  When  I  told  him.  very 
briefly,  about  the  college  difficulty,  he  was  perhaps 
a  little  annoyed  by  it.  He  said  :  **  I  am  sorry  the 
Turks  should  treat  you  so  unjustly  !     But   I   am  not 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      445 

here  on  any  diplomatic  mission.  I  can  do  nothing 
to  help  you." 

Turning  to  the  boy,  he  put  his  hand  on  his  shoul- 
der and  said  :  "  What  are  you  going  to  do  in  this 
world,  my  son  ?     What  are  you  going  to  be  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Alfred  with  boyish  sim- 
plicity ;  "  I  would  n't  mind  being  admiral  of  the 
American  fleet  ! " 

This  evidently  touched  the  old  admiral  in  a  tender 
place.  Patting  him  on  the  head,  he  said  :  "  Ah  !  my 
son  —  my  son  !  If  you  are  going  to  be  admiral  of 
the  American  fleet"  —  and  here  his  words  were  cut 
short  by  the  opening  of  the  door  and  the  inrushing 
of  Dr.  Seropian,  who  exclaimed  :  — 

"■  Good-morning,  Admiral  Farragut  !  I  am  glad 
to  see  you  here  with  Dr.  Hamlin  !  "  He  then  pro- 
ceeded with  an  enthusiasm  quite  surprising,  and,  as 
it  seemed  to  me,  rather  bold.  He  spoke  of  the  col- 
lege actually  existing  at  Bebek,  within  restricted 
limits  —  the  only  real  college  in  the  empire  ;  and  of 
the  great  injustice  of  the  prohibition  to  build.  He 
added,  '*  You  have  come  here  just  in  the  nick  of 
time  to  help  Dr.  Hamlin  out  of  this  difficulty  ! " 

As  soon  as  the  admiral  had  a  chance  to  speak  he 
said  :  "  Why,  doctor,  I  can  do  nothing  at  all  in  this 
case  !     I  have  no  diplomatic  mission  here  !  " 

"Just  for  that  reason,"  said  the  doctor,  "you  can 


446  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

do  everything.  You  have  only  to  ask  the  great 
pashas,  when  you  dine  with  them,  why  this  American 
college  can't  be  built  —  that  is  all !  To-night  you 
are  to  dine  with  his  highness,  Aali  Pasha,  the  grand 
vizier,  and  when  you  dine  with  the  Capudan  Pasha, 
ask  him ;  and  with  the  Scraskier  Pasha,  ask  him,  anc' 
so  on." 

"  I  will  readily  do  that,"  said  the  admiral  with 
rather  a  jovial  look.  *' A  beggar  may  ask  a  question 
of  a  king  !  " 

I  did  not  wish  him  to  get  involved  in  controversy, 
where  he  would  be  at  a  great  disadvantage.  They 
could  manufacture  facts,  and  he  could  not.  I  said  to 
him  :  — 

"Admiral  Farragut,  if  you  ask  that  question,  I 
would  suggest  that  you  make  no  reply,  but  receive 
their  response  as  though  it  were  entirely  satisfactory 
—  or  at  least  decisive.  I  don't  intend  to  intimate 
that  there  would  be  any  truth  at  all  in  it  !  "  I  added. 

"I'll  do  it!  I'll  do  it!"  said  he  with  a  smile 
and  a  cant  of  the  head  as  though  he  saw  something 
humorous  in  it.  But  I  do  not  know  how  he  under- 
stood it. 

Other  persons  coming  in,  the  interview  here 
ended.  We  were  much  delighted  with  the  cordiality 
and  bonhomie  of  the  admiral. 

After  this,  I  had  great  curiosity  to  know  whether 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      447 

he  had  put  the  question,  and  what  replies  he  re- 
ceived. When  I  heard  that  he  was  to  sail  on  a 
Thursday  afternoon,  I  went  on  board,  on  purpose  to 
ask  him.  But  his  cabin  was  full  of  diplomats,  who 
had  called  to  take  leave,  and  I  could  only  wish  him 
"  Bon  voyage  !  "  and  retire. 

Some  ten  days  after,  more  or  less,  a  kiaiib  of  the 
Sublime  Porte  came  and  sat  down  by  me,  on  board 
of  a  passenger  steamer  going  up  the  Bosphorus,  and 
said  :  — 

"  I  want  to  ask  you  a  question,  Mr.  Hamlin." 

I  said,  "Very  well." 

Putting  his  face  rather  near  to  mine,  as  though  it 
were  an  important  and  secret  matter,  he  went  on  :  **  I 
want  to  ask  you  if  your  great  admiral  was  sent  here 
by  your  government  to  settle  that  college  question  }  " 

I  saw  at  once  that  the  admiral  had  asked  the  ques- 
tion proposed,  and  that  it  had  caused  so  much  excite- 
ment that  it  was  known  through  all  the  rooms  of  the 
Sublime  Porte.  I  made  an  evasive  answer  —  that  he 
might  well  suppose  any  government  would  take  up 
such  a  matter,  if  it  meant  to  defend  the  rights  of  its 
citizens  !     And  so  it  passed ;  nothing  came  of  it. 

With  this  Farragut  episode  my  resources  seemed 
for  a  time  exhausted.  For  full  seven  years,  from 
the  time  of  the  interdict,  I  had  been  trying  every 
measure  that  seemed  to  promise  any  result.     I  was 


448  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

regarded  by  many  as  a  "crank,"  pursuing  a  most 
hopeless  object.  An  English  gentleman  said  to  me 
one  day :  — 

"You  do  wrong,  Mr.  Hamlin,  to  pursue  this  object 
so  perseveringly !  I  happen  to  know  from  the  high- 
est authority  that  it  has  been  decided  that  your  col- 
lege shall  never  be  built  upon  that  spot." 

I  said :  "  Yes,  sir ;  I  have  known  that  for  a  long 
time !  but  there  is  a  Higher  than  the  highest, 
and  I  trust  in  him  !  "  It  was  undoubtedly  true  that 
Aali  Pasha  had  made  that  promise  to  the  opposing 
diplomats. 

While  in  a  deep  quandary,  one  day,  as  to  what 
course  of  action  I  should  next  pursue,  Mr.  Morris' 
messenger  boy,  Antoine,  entered  my  study  with  a 
letter  in  his  hand.  I  knew  at  the  sight  that  it  miist 
be  something  in  relation  to  the  college.  On  break- 
ing the  seal  it  read  substantially  thus  :  — 

"  I  congratulate  you,  Mr.  Hamlin,  on  the  termina- 
tion of  your  long  contest  with  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment. I  have  just  received  a  note  from  his  highness, 
the  grand  vizier,  saying,  *Tell  Mr.  Hamlin  he  may 
begin  the  building  of  his  college  when  he  pleases. 
No  one  will  interfere  with  him.  And  in  a  few  days 
an  imperial  irade  ^\S{  be  given  him,'  "  etc. 

It  was  news  too  great  and  good  to  be  true !  It 
filled  me  with  great  exultation  ;  but   immediately  a 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE,      449 

terrible  questioning  of  the  truth  and  reality  of  the 
whole  affair  rushed  in  upon  me.  I  had  never  dared 
to  ask  for  an  imperial  irade  !  It  is  the  most  sacred 
title  to  real  estate  ever  given  in  Turkey,  and  ema- 
nates personally  and  directly  from  the  sultan  himself 
in  his  character  of  infallibility.  I  had  said  if  ten 
thousand  dollars  would  secure  it,  it  would  be  money 
well  spent,  and  here  it  was  freely  offered  me  ! 

I  went  directly,  with  all  speed,  to  Pera,  to  see  Mr. 
Morris.  On  entering  his  office  I  said  ''What  is 
this  hoax,  Mr.  Morris  } " 

He  replied  :  "  I  don't  wonder  at  your  question,  Mr. 
Hamlin !  But  there  can  be  no  hoax  at  all  in  the 
matter :  for  the  note,  as  you  shall  see  for  yourself, 
is  in  Aali  Pasha's  own  handwriting ;  and  you  know 
the  saying,  that  '  His  highness  never  keeps  a  verbal 
promise,  and  never  breaks  a  written  one ' ! " 

It  was  even  so ;  and  not  the  signature  only,  but 
the  whole  note,  was  in  his  unmistakable  hand! 

The  decision  occasioned  great  surprise ;  joy  to 
some,  bitter  disappointment  to  others.  Various 
theories  were  formed  to  account  for  this  sudden, 
unexpected  action,  after  seven  long  years  of  obsti- 
nate resistance  —  after  coming  repeatedly  up  to  the 
point,  under  great  pressure,  and  then  at  the  last 
moment  finding  a  way  of  escape,  until  the  pasha's 
well-known   exclamation,   "Won't  this   Mr.   Hamlin 


450 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


ever  die  and  let  us  alone  on  this  college  question  ? " 
became  almost  justifiable  impatience.  After  all,  the 
permission,  without  any  pressure,  was  soon  given 
generously,  and  in  overmeasure !  We  thanked  Mr. 
Morris,  Mr.  Morgan,  Secretary  Seward,  and  every- 
body whom  we  could  thank.  We  also  "  thanked  God 
and  took  courage!  " 

I  always  felt,  and  often  said,  "  There  is  a  secret 
history  to  this  affair,  beyond  all  that  we  as  yet 
understand."  The  public  were  amazed  at  this  un- 
expected result,  and  refused  to  believe  the  honesty 
and  good  faith  of  this  marvelous  and  generous  per- 
mission. Many  an  one  said  to  me  that  the  final 
result  would  be  something  unexpected  and  disastrous  ; 
and  that  Aali  Pasha  would  somehow  deal  me  a  back- 
handed stroke  that  would  finish  me  up !  But  the 
public  proved  a  false  prophet ! 

The  irade  was  given  ;  and  in  it  the  college  was 
placed  under  the  protection  of  the  United  States, 
and  consequently  has  a  right  to  carry,  and  does  carry, 
the  American  flag.  After  guarding  the  Bosphorus 
for  four  centuries  against  any  such  intrusion  upon 
any  prominent  point,  this  permission  was  accorded 
to  America.  No  such  privilege  had  been  obtained 
by  any  English,  French,  German,  or  Russian  institu- 
tion along  those  historic  banks  —  the  reason  being 
that  we  have  no  political,  aspirations  in  Turkey. 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      45  I 

We  immediately  commenced  work  with  great  joy. 
Our  plans  of  building  had  been  studied  over  and 
over  again,  and  having  the  advantage  of  four  dif- 
ferent architects,  I  made  my  own  plan,  differing 
from  them  all,  yet  deriving  some  advantages  from 
them  all.  I  had  determined  to  make  it  a  fireproof 
building,  contrary  to  Mr.  Robert's  advice.  A  pecul- 
iar condition  of  the  market  justified  me  in  so  doing. 
The  timber  market  of  the  Danube  had  been  swept 
for  the  constructions  of  the  Suez  Canal.  The  tim- 
ber I  should  use  had  thus  doubled  in  price ;  but  iron 
was  at  its  lowest  point.  Wishing  to  try  the  temper 
of  the  pasha  and  judge  of  his  real  feelings  and  dis- 
position, I  went  to  him  to  ask  for  an  order  for  the 
passing  of  the  iron,  the  tubular  bricks,  the  cement, 
and  whatever  other  articles  I  should  obtain  from 
France,  England,  and  Belgium,  through  the  custom- 
house without  delay  and  without  duty.  He  received 
me  with  perfect  frankness  and  said  :  "  I  will  speak 
with  Kiani  Pasha,  the  collector  of  the  port,  and  after 
two  or  three  days  you  may  see  him." 

I  feared  this  was  a  mild  negative.  But  on  seeing 
Kiani  Pasha  he  said  at  once :  "■  His  highness  has 
spoken  to  me  on  the  subject,  and  you  will  receive 
from  the  Muhassibiji-effendi  a  formula  which  you 
will  sign  at  every  importation." 

I  arranged  the  thing  satisfactorily  with  that  offi- 


452 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


cial,  and  everything  passed  the  customhouse  with- 
out sticking  for  a  week  or  even  for  an  hour.  This 
was  a  very  great  boon  to  the  work.  Having  laid  out 
the  ground  for  the  building  and  assembled  a  force 
of  workmen,  the  college  broke  the  ground,  every 
student  for  a  short  time  using  a  pick  or  a  shovel 
The  description  of  this  is  enclosed  in  the  box  depos- 
ited in  the  corner  stone. 

The  Turkish  name  of  our  site  was  Kaialar, 
which  means  quarries,  and  there  were  heaps  and 
cavities  which  proved  that  Mehmet  the  Conqueror 
quarried  there  the  stones  for  the  towers  touching 
one  corner  of  our  site.  I  examined  with  interest 
the  atmospheric  effects  of  four  centuries  upon  the 
materials.  I  could  not  perceive  that  any  effect  what- 
ever had  been  produced  upon  them,  and  I  had  thus 
abundant  proof  that  the  material  I  had  chosen  was 
of  a  sufficiently  durable  nature. 

I  had  now  to  enter  upon  a  new  study  —  the  mate- 
rials and  mode  of  construction  of  a  fireproof  build- 
ing, and  the  sources  whence  they  could  be  obtained. 
My  friend  Mr.  Arthur  Stoddard,  of  Glasgow,  entered 
into  the  subject  with  interest,  and  the  result  of  our 
correspondence  was  that  I  found  I  could  obtain  the 
rolled  iron  beams  for  the  floors  from  Antwerp,  in 
Belgium,  better  than  from  England.  The  cast-iron 
work  for  the    corridors,   however,    I    obtained    from 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE. 


453 


Glasgow,  at  £,%  los.  a  ton,  including  the  expense  for 
models  for  the  castings.  The  iron  beams  cost  £,\o 
5s.  per  ton,  a  pound  lower  than  they  had  been  the 
previous  years. 

One  of  my  Robert  College  students,  Mertsonoff, 
was  located  at  Marseilles,  and  he  aided  me  essen- 
tially in  obtaining  cement  and  very  beautiful  tubular 
brick  and  cream-colored  sandstone,  which  vessels 
coming  to  Constantinople  for  grain  were  very  glad 
to  take  as  ballast.     He  served  me  faithfully. 

The  spot  selected  for  the  building  was  a  hillock, 
which  I  supposed  was  composed  of  debris  of  a 
neighboring  quarry.  It  was  covered  with  a  thick 
growth  of  scrub  oak  which  had  been  cut  down  every 
few  years  to  make  fagots  for  limekilns.  Small  stones 
raked  out  from  the  cultivated  land  had  been  thrown 
in  among  these  bushes.  This  process  had  probably 
gone  on  for  centuries.  Thus,  covering  this  hillock, 
was  a  mass  of  interwoven  roots  and  stones  that  baf- 
fled the  men  to  remove.  It  cost  me  nearly  a  day's 
work  for  every  square  yard  to  clear  it  off.  Beneath 
we  found,  not  debris,  but  the  solid  limestone  of  the 
hill.  Upon  this  we  set  the  quarrymen  to  work  at 
once  to  reduce  the  elevation  to  the  level  of  the 
foundations  of  the  building.  Thus  the  building  was 
founded  upon  the  solid  rock.  For  the  front  wall  we 
had  to  excavate  the  earth  from  two  to  three  feet ;  the 


454 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


corner  towards  the  tower  went  down  six  or  eight 
feet.  The  foundation  of  that  corner  was  not  en- 
tirely satisfactory.  But  the  walls  are  so  bound 
together  by  "gridirons"  of  strap  iron,  thoroughly 
coated  with  pitch  and  laid  into  the  walls  at  a  dis- 
tance of  two  and  a  half  feet  from  the  foundation 
to  the  top,  that  I  do  not  fear  any  manifestation  of 
weakness  in  any  part. 

The  center,  or  the  quadrangle  of  the  building,  was 
quarried  down  twenty-four  feet  from  the  summit,  in 
order  to  form  a  spacious  cistern  in  the  solid  rock. 
The  stone  that  came  out  was  such  as  to  rejoice  the 
builder's  heart.  The  heavy  blasts  threw  it  out  in 
large  plates,  three  and  a  half  feet  wide,  of  lengths 
varying  from  five  to  seven  feet  and  from  six  inches  to 
a  foot  in  depth,  and  often  so  heavy  that  our  machinery 
would  not  handle  them  until  they  were  broken  in  two. 
These  stones  made  magnificent  binding  corners  for 
the  basement.  The  walls  are  thicker  and  heavier 
than  they  would  have  been  but  for  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  stone. 

Another  question  of  great  interest  was  the 
mortar,  or  cement,  to  be  used  in  constructing  the 
walls.  This  I  had  carefully  studied,  from  specimens 
taken  from  the  old  walls  of  Constantinople,  the 
latest  of  which  was  eight  centuries  old.  I  also 
obtained  some  specimens  from   Pella  in  Macedonia, 


THE   FOUNDIXG    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      455 

the  birthplace  of  Alexander  the  Great.  I  found 
them  both  of  the  same  general  proportions,  that  is, 
one  third  lime  and  one  third  pounded  brick  and  one 
third  sand.  In  some  specimens,  however,  the  brick 
seemed  to  prevail,  and  the  sand  to  be  less  in  pro- 
portion. I  resolved  to  make  this  mixture.  I  bought 
all  the  brick  of  an  old  Turkish  bath  that  was  being 
torn  down,  and  measuring  it  by  the  eye  I  thought 
that  when  pounded  up  it  would  be  enough.  I  was 
appalled  at  the  fact  that  it  did  not  hold  out  for  one 
half  the  building.  I  obtained  some  boat  loads  from 
the  brickkilns  of  Kiat-hane.  But  those  brickmakers 
soon  understood  my  necessity,  and  the  price  "riz." 
I  abandoned  them,  having  made  a  great  "  find." 
Abdul  Medjid,  in  his  palace-building  craze,  had 
commenced  a  kiosk  at  an  absurd  place  in  the  inner 
Geuk  Sou.  It  was  abandoned,  after  a  splendid 
basement  had  been  completed.  I  found  the  enor- 
mous vaults  of  this  basement  full  of  pounded 
brick.  I  purchased  the  whole  at  a  reasonable  rate  ; 
and  this  was  sufficient  to  complete  the  work.  My 
joy  was  great  at  this  success,  for  this  mortar  is  the 
toughest  and  most  enduring  of  any  ever  made.  The 
old  city  walls,  composed  of  this  mortar,  are  with 
great  difficulty  taken  down,  by  pick  or  powder. 

At  two  and  a  half  feet  distance  I  interposed  two 
layers  of   brick   in    building   up   the    walls,    for   the 


456  -  MV  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 

double  purpose  of  inserting  the  strap-iron  gridirons 
—  as  they  were  called  —  as  binders,  and  to  serve  as 
a  cushion  to  the  walls,  in  case  of  earthquakes,  the 
brick  and  mortar  having  an  elasticity  which  stone 
has  not.  I  noticed,  in  the  Brousa  earthquakes,  that 
walls  thus  built  withstood  the  shock  of  those  earth- 
quakes splendidly. 

I  had  great  trouble  with  my  first  quarrymen. 
They  were  Montenegrins,  always  ready  to  threaten 
a  man's  life,  and  often  to  take  it.  They  were  so 
dilatory  in  their  work  that  I  opened  another  quarry 
and  made  a  contract  with  a  Greek  stone  blaster  to 
work  it.  They  threatened  to  dirk  him  if  he  dared 
to  make  a  single  blast.  The  Greek  was  not  a  mild 
man,  but  he  was  so  completely  cowed  by  these  men 
that  he  informed  me  that  he  could  not  keep  the 
contract.  I  was  indignant  at  this  interference,  and 
told  the  Montenegrins  that  I  would  bring  on  as 
many  stone  blasters  as  I  pleased,  without  reference 
to  them  ;  that  they  were  working  in  that  one  quarry, 
and  had  nothing  else  to  do. 

The  head  man  replied,  with  leering  insolence,  that 
"  it  would  not  be  good  for  my  health  to  do  any  such 
thing ! " 

I  said  to  him :  "  I  understand  perfectly  your 
meaning  !  You  are  threatening  my  life,  for  attend- 
ing to  my  own  affairs.     I  never  carry  arms.     I  have 


THE   FOUXDIXG    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE. 


457 


neither  pistol  nor  dagger.  But  I  know  how  to  take 
care  of  fellows  such  as  you.  I  only  want  your 
name !  "  and  I  took  out  my  notebook  to  write  it 
down.  He  refused  to  give  it.  I  said  :  •'  It  is  all  the 
same  !  You  are  the  head  man  of  this  gang  of  work- 
men, at  this  day  and  this  hour.  That  is  quite  suf- 
ficient." 

I  then  turned  to  the  second  man,  and  asked  his 
name,  with  the  same  result.  After  I  had  finished 
writing  I  said  to  them  :  "  Now  I  shall  send  this 
directly  to  the  American  minister.  He  will  imme- 
diately give  it  to  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs ;  he 
will  give  it  to  the  chief  of  your  guild,  with  orders  to 
take  care  of  you.  You  know  him.  You  will  find 
your  match  there,  with  as  many  daggers  and  pistols 
as  you  choose  !  " 

This  filled  them  with  consternation.  They  prom- 
ised to  interfere  with  no  one  outside  of  that  indi- 
vidual quarry.  When  they  had  finished  that,  I  was 
glad  to  get  rid  of  them.  They  are  a  cut-throat  race 
—  with  some  very  good  qualities.  When  they  were 
once  subdued  I  had  much  less  trouble  with  them 
than  with  the  Greeks. 

When  the  works  were  ready  for  the  corner  stone, 
we  had  a  great  assembly,  and  the  American  minister, 
Hon.  E.  Joy  Morris,  performed  the  ceremony  of 
placing  it,  with  a  very  interesting  speech.     This  was 


458 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


on  July  4,  1869.  His  address  was  followed  by  an 
address  by  Sir  Philip  Francis,  judge  of  the  English 
Supreme  Consular  Court ;  next,  an  able  address  by 
J.  P.  Brown,  Esq.,  United  States  secretary  of  lega- 
tion ;  fourth,  the  address  by  Rev.  Canon  Gribble.. 
chaplain  of  the  British  embassy ;  the  fifth,  the  most 
rhetorical  and  eloquent  of  all,  was  in  Greek,  by  Philip 
Apostolides,  Esq.,  a  Greek  lawyer  ;  the  sixth  was  by 
Hagop  Effendi,  Vekil  of  the  Armenian  Protestant 
community,  in  Armenian  ;  the  seventh,  in  Bulgarian, 
by  Mr.  Petco  Gorbanoff,  professor  of  Slavic  lan- 
guages in  the  college  ;  the  eighth,  in  Turkish,  by 
Pastor  Avedis,  of  Northern  Syria ;  the  ninth,  by 
Rev.  Dr.  Pratt,  missionary. 

I  was  now  ready  to  commence  the  building  of  the 
great  structure  in  good  earnest.  I  had  great  anxiety 
about  getting  skillful  and  competent  masons.  That 
such  did  exist  I  knew  by  the  excellence  of  the 
masonry  of  many  modern  buildings.  If  I  consulted 
a  Greek  master  builder,  he  always  told  me  to  get  my 
masons  from  the  Mitylene  (ancient  Lesbos)  Greeks. 
If  I  consulted  an  Armenian  master  builder,  he 
advised  me  just  as  strongly  to  get  Armenian 
masons  coming  from  the  region  of  Van.  I  decided 
to  secure  twelve  of  each  kind.  I  gave  the  northern 
half  to  the  Greeks,  and  the  southern  half  to  the 
Armenians.     Their  rivalry  played   a   great    part    in 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      459 

the  building.  Both  the  quality  and  the  rapidity  of 
the  work  were  affected  by  it.  No  one  examining  the 
building  would  detect  any  difference  in  the  two 
parts.  The  Greeks,  however,  have  more  taste  in 
their  work ;  and  the  Armenians  more  solidity.  I 
had  many  workmen  —  stonecutters,  quarrymen, 
carpenters,  plasterers,  painters,  blacksmiths,  and 
as  a  general  rule  I  was  on  excellent  terms  with 
them  all. 

Every  Saturday  night  they  knocked  off  work  in 
season  for  every  man  to  receive  his  pay.  If  any  one 
had  been  indolent  or  careless  during  the  week,  he 
was  dismissed  on  Saturday  evening,  and  the  reason 
given  before  all. 

I  allowed  no  wine,  beer,  or  alcoholic  drinks  on  the 
college  grounds.  This  contributed  greatly  to  the 
harmony  and  success  of  the  work. 

I  had,  first  and  last,  more  than  two  hundred  work- 
men, of  different  nationalities  and  religions,  and  I 
can  recall  very  few  of  them  that  I  would  not  be  glad 
to  see  again,  or  who,  as  I  believe,  would  not  be  glad 
to  see  me.  A  right  distribution  of  labor,  fair  wages, 
prompt  payment,  and  good  service,  are  four  essential 
elements  of  success  in  such  a  work,  and  of  content 
among  the  workmen. 

Of  all  the  common  workmen,  there  are  none  whom 
I  recall    with    more    interest    than    three    poor  half- 


460  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

naked  Kurds.  They  came  to  me  in  December,  after 
the  masonry  work  of  the  first  year  had  ceased. 
There  was  still  work  for  a  number  of  men  to  do,  in 
good  weather,  in  grading,  clearing  out  the  quarries, 
and  preparation  of  materials.  They  entreated  me  so 
piteously  to  take  them  and  give  them  a  shelter  that 
I,  rather  hesitatingly,  made  this  -proposition  to  them  : 
they  might  have  a  place  to  sleep  in  (which  they,  not 
I,  regarded  as  comfortable)  and  I  would  give  them 
a  credit  with  our  provider  of  two  and  a  half  piastres 
per  day  for  their  food.  This  would  be  seventeen 
and  a  half  piastres  per  week  for  each  one.  If  there 
should  be  two  good  working  days  in  a  week,  they 
would  very  nearly  pay  the  bill.  But  as  there  were 
often  three,  four,  or  five  working  days  in  each  week, 
they  soon  found  themselves  in  clover. 

They  had  come  from  beyond  the  Euphrates  to  get 
money  to  pay  their  taxes  and  redeem  their  little 
holdings,  which  had  been  seized  by  the  government. 
When  I  told  them  to  return  to  the  city  and  get  their 
traps  and  beds,  I  found,  to  my  amazement,  that  they 
had  absolutely  nothing  !  I  advanced  money  enough 
to  make  them  comfortable,  and  received  my  pay  in 
work.  I  had  an  opportunity  to  furnish  them  with 
straw  beds,  at  a  merely  nominal  price,  and  compelled 
them  to  receive  them,  although  they  declared  they 
had  never  slept  on  any  such  thing.     After  a  while. 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE      461 

they  confessed  that  their  beds  and  coverings  were 
very  nice  and  comfortable  things  for  the  night. 

These  three  half-savage  Kurds  were  a  great 
mystery  to  me.  I  found  them  strong,  industrious, 
faithful,  and  even  affectionate.  If  there  were  any 
specially  hard  service  to  be  done  in  storms,  to  watch 
or  to  make  safe  exposed  materials,  —  a  thing  often 
occurring, — they  were  the  men  to  volunteer  to  do  it. 
Two  of  them  were  men  past  forty  ;  one  a  young  man, 
perhaps  twenty-three.  He  was  the  strongest  fellow 
on  the  grounds.  He  generally  did  more  work  than 
any  other  common  laborer,  having  to  punch  the 
ends  of  all  the  iron  beams,  with  a  punch  an  inch  in 
diameter,  with  a  machine  requiring  great  muscular 
exertion.  I  had  no  man  who  was  willing  to  work  it 
more  than  two  or  three  hours  in  succession.  This 
young  Kurd  could  work  it  all  day  long  !  I  doubled 
his  wages,  so  long  as  he  was  doing  that  work. 

Of  course  this  made  trouble.  Other  workmen 
came  to  me,  saying,  "  This  is  not  fair,  that  you  should 
pay  that  Kurd  twice  what  you  pay  us  ! "  I  showed 
them  the  number  of  holes  that  he  had  punched  in 
one  day  and  offered  any  man  sixteen  piastres  who 
would  do  the  same  amount  of  that  work  ;  but  no 
one  attempted  it. 

These  men  were  nominally  Mohammedans,  but 
had    no    Mohammedan    bigotry    whatever.     In    the 


462  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

evening  there  was  always  more  or  less  Bible  reading 
going  on  among  the  workmen,  in  the  Turkish  lan- 
guage, in  the  tents.  These  Kurds  were  remarkably 
attentive  listeners  to  the  Word.  I  have  hoped  that 
the  oldest  of  the  three  received  the  truth  in  love. 
The  youngest  was  quite  a  different  character.  Every 
Sunday  he  would  go  to  some  drinking  place  in  the 
neighboring  village  of  Hissar,  get  maddened  with 
liquor,  and  become  quarrelsome  and  dangerous.  In 
a  drunken  fit,  he  hurled  a  brown  earthen  plate  at 
one  of  the  workmen,  which  made  quite  a  gash  in  his 
head.  He  was  seized  by  the  police  and  put  into 
prison.  But  the  wounded  man,  having  recovered, 
went  and  obtained  his  release. 

He  promised  not  to  approach  any  drinking  place 
after  that,  and  for  some  time  kept  his  promise.  But 
after  a  while,  in  a  drunken  brawl,  he  stabbed  a 
policeman  in  the  arm.  He  was  soundly  thrashed, 
bound  hand  and  foot,  and  carried  again  to  prison. 
I  let  him  lie  there  two  weeks  ;  and  then  the  wounded 
policeman  came  and  asked  me  to  interfere  for  his 
release.  His  arm  was  well,  and  his  feelings  were  un- 
doubtedly soothed  by  a  backsheesh.  This  drunken 
brawl  had  cost  the  fellow  every  piastre  of  his  hard- 
won  earnings  for  some  months  past. 

I  then  told  him  I  should  pay  him  no  more  money 
so  long  as  he  should  work  for  me.     I  would  give  him 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      463 

a  credit  of  two  and  a  half  piastres  a  day  for  his 
food  ;  and  every  Saturday  night  he  should  have  a 
due  bill  for  his  week's  work,  minus  the  seventeen 
and  a  half  piastres.  As  this  due  bill  was  not  trans- 
ferable and  could  be  paid  only  by  me,  he  had  no 
spending  money  whatever.  After  that  he  remained 
a  most  valuable  laborer  to  the  end  of  the  work. 

When  he  had  about  three  hundred  piastres  due  to 
him,  I  sent  him,  with  Baron  Harutiune,  to  the  city  to 
buy  a  new  outfit  of  Oriental  clothing.  The  clothes 
were  excellent  in  quality  and  finely  chosen  as  to 
colors.  He  was  indeed  quite  an  Oriental  dandy. 
When  he  came  upon  the  grounds,  the  workmen  all 
stopped  and  raised  a  tremendous  "Yo  ha!" 

The  departure  of  these  poor  men  for  their  homes, 
after  the  completion  of  the  building,  was  intensely 
Oriental,  if  not  pathetic.  The  youngest  one  went 
by  steamer  to  Trebizond,  and  thence  by  caravan 
home ;  but  the  other  two  resolved  just  to  cross  the 
Bosphorus,  and  foot  it  all  the  way  to  their  distant 
home  beyond  the  Euphrates.  They  said  they  could 
do  it  in  a  month,  and  their  Kurdish  music  in  the 
villages  would  secure  them  food  and  lodging.  Their 
money,  all  in  gold,  was  bound  in  leather  girdles 
about  their  waists.  They  would  travel  as  beggars, 
and  be  perfectly  safe.  I  gave  each  of  them  two 
strong  paper  cylinders   rammed  full  and  solid   with 


464  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^'-^    TIMES. 

finely  ground  coffee ;  also,  a  small  bag  of  sugar,  a 
Turkish  coffee  cup,  and  a  small  tin  coffeepot.  I 
also  gave  each  a  box  of  matches.  Thus  provided, 
they  could  always  make  a  cup  of  the  strong  bitter 
coffee  they  so  much  relished.  I  gave  each  half  a 
lira  (two  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents),  exacting  the 
promise  that  they  would  spend  it  for  comforts  by  the 
way,  not  save  it  for  home  use.  I  gave  the  oldest 
eight  piastres,  wrapped  up  and  marked  "  postage 
money,"  exacting  the  promise  that  on  his  arrival 
at  home  he  would  get  a  letter  writer  to  write  me 
describing  their  journey  and  telling  me  whether  they 
had  good  weather,  kind  treatment,  became  footsore 
or  ill,  and  if  they  found  things  all  right  at  home. 

Some  two  or  three  months  later  I  received  the 
letter  containing,  as  near  as  could  be,  exactly  these 
words  :  "  Weather  good  —  people  kind  —  feet  not 
sore  —  not  ill  by  the  way  —  all  things  nice  at  home  !  " 
This  occupied  three  and  a  half  lines  on  the  paper. 
But  the  address,  in  place  of  our  ''My  dear  Sir," 
occupied  fourteen  lines  !  It  contained  all  the  terms 
of  honor  descriptive  of  magnificent  characteristics 
which  the  letter  writer  could  conjure  up  from 
his  knowledge  of  language  !  The  handwriting  was 
beautiful,  and  the  whole  thing  intensely  Oriental. 

During  the  erection  of  the  building  on  that  con- 
spicuous spot,  I  had   many  visitors,   often  travelers 


THE   FOUXDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      465 

from  various  lands.  No  one  interested  me  more 
than  Henry  M.  Stanley,  the  since  celebrated  Afri- 
can explorer  — then  all  unknown  to  fame.  He  vis- 
ited the  building  twice,  made  many  inquiries  about 
it,  and  took  notes,  from  which  he  said  he  should 
make  a  communication  to  The  New  York  Herald. 
He  left  Constantinople  suddenly,  I  think  for  Zanzi- 
bar. He  has  since  proved  himself  to  be  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  men  of  this  century. 

I  have  already  mentioned  the  generous  donation 
by  Mr.  Corliss  of  a  steam  engine  for  manufacturing 
the  woodwork  of  the  college.  Owing  to  the  long 
prohibition  upon  building,  that  engine  was  sold,  and 
the  proceeds,  about  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  with  his 
approbation,  devoted  to  the  library  of  the  college. 

When  Mr.  Corliss  learned  that  the  long  conflict 
with  the  Turkish  government  was  triumphantly  fin- 
ished, he  immediately  sent  us  another  engine  like 
the  first.  Its  efficient  working  excited  great  admira- 
tion among  the  people,  and  enabled  us  to  finish  the 
college  some  months  earlier  than  we  could  have  done 
without  it.  The  buzz  saw  proved  its  efficiency  by 
cutting  off  two  of  my  fingers,  and  also  the  little 
finger  of  one  of  the  workmen.  Thus  I  "fought, 
bled,"  but  did  not  "die,"  in  the  college  service!  I 
had  a  number  of  hair-breadth  escapes  in  erecting 
this  great  edifice ;  but  the  prayer  of  Canon  Gribble, 


466  MY  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 

at  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone,  "  that  no  life 
might  be  lost,"  was  graciously  answered. 

Mr.  Robert  came  out  to  visit  the  college,  just 
before  the  completion  of  the  building.  He  spent 
almost  every  day  at  the  works,  examining  every  part, 
and  watching  all  the  finishings  with  the  greatest 
interest.  He  expressed  his  gratification  in  the 
strongest  language,  and  repeatedly  declared  that  he 
had  never  enjoyed  any  work  of  his  life  so  much  as 
he  had  bringing  forward  that  college,  in  connection 
with  myself.  He  often  and  emphatically  said  :  "  So 
long  as  we  live,  Mr.  Hamlin,  we  shall  never  separate 
in  this  work  !  " 

We  commenced  our  correspondence  in  1858. 
Thirteen  very  trying  years  had  passed,  crowned  at 
last  with  wonderful  success  ;  and  I  did  not  then 
suppose  it  possible  that  man  should  ever  separate  us. 

I  pointed  out  to  him  some  things  which  I  had 
done  for  the  sake  of  economy ;  but  I  felt  confident 
of  having  a  balance  in  the  treasury  of  at  least  $1,000 
a  year,  with  which  I  hoped  to  remedy  all  such  de- 
ficiencies. During  this  visit  he  was  called,  together 
with  myself,  to  the  palace  of  the  Grand  Vizier  Aali 
Pasha.  The  object  was  to  confer  upon  him  the  deco- 
ration of  the  Medjidie  —  a  crescent  and  star  in  dia- 
monds, worth  about  $500.  The  grand  vdzier  ad- 
dressed him  very  pleasantly,  and  said,  "The  Sultan, 

I 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      467 

my  imperial  master,  wishes  to  express  his  high  esti- 
mate of  your  generous  and  philanthropic  work,  and 
has  ordered  me  to  confer  upon  you  the  decoration  of 
the  Medjidie." 

Mr.  Robert,  in  courtly  and  most  appropriate  lan- 
guage, expressed  his  profound  sense  of  the  honor  the 
Sultan  had  done  him,  and  begged  the  grand  vizier 
to  ask  his  majesty  to  allow  him  to  decline  the  prof- 
ferred  honor.  He  was,  he  said,  a  simple  republican 
American  citizen,  and  such  decorations  jvere  not  in 
use  among  us.  The  grand  vizier  bowed,  in  token 
of  granting  his  request,  and  laughed  quite  heartily, 
and,  I  thought,  very  queerly.  Probably  he  had  never 
before  conceived  of  the  possibility  of  a  man's  de- 
clining a  decoration  ! 

Mr.  Robert's  course  was  generally  approved,  as 
adding  dignity  to  American  citizenship. 

I  had  been  congratulated  on  having  erected  a 
building  which  was  the  ornament  of  the  Bosphorus. 
The  cost  of  the  building,  when  completed,  was 
;^6o,ooo;  $10,000  less  than  the  lowest  estimate 
given  by  practical  builders,  and  $40,000  less  than 
the  estimate  given  by  Mr.  Stampa,  the  English 
architect. 

I  saw  every  day  the  necessity  of  having  one 
positive  will  to  control  all  the  operations  and  to 
keep  them  in  harmony.     The  quarrymen,  the  stone 


468  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

trimmers,  the  makers  of  cement,  and  the  suppliers 
of  materials  to  the  masons  all  had  to  be  watched 
and  kept  in  due  order  and  proportion.  Any  want  of 
provision  in  the  supplies  might  throw  the  whole  work 
into  confusion.  I  found  it  very  useful  to  write  out 
in  the  evening  the  program  of  the  things  to  be 
pushed  the  next  day,  and  the  order  in  which  I  must 
attend  to  them.  My  right-hand  man,  Baron  Haru- 
tiune,  afterwards  murdered,  was  of  inestimable  value 
to  me  in  tiiis  work.  I  have  spoken  before  of  his 
fidelity  and  ability. 

We  transferred  the  college  to  its  new  quarters,  and 
opened  it  there  on  the  fifteenth  of  May,  1871.  It 
was  a  time  of  great  rejoicing  and  of  many  congratu- 
lations. I  said  to  the  gentleman  who  had  thought 
me  a  '^crank"   for  continuing  my  contest  with  the 

government  against  all  reason  :  ''You  see,  Mr.  B , 

that  I  was  not  entirely  destitute  of  judgment,  after 
all ! " 

*'  No,"  he  replied  ;  "  I  don't  see  it !  You  had  no 
reason  whatever  to  expect  the  success  you  have  had. 
You  had  no  right  to  expect  it ! " 

We  often  remarked :  "  *  It  is  the  Lord's  doing, 
and  marvelous  in  our  eyes  !  '  " 

We  had  no  formal  opening  of  the  college  until  the 
following  fourth  of  July.  Mr.  Seward,  then  ex- 
secretary  of  state,  was  on  his  way  towards  Constan- 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.     460 

tinople,  in  his  journey  around  the  world,  and  the 
public  opening  was  deferred   until  his  visit. 

He  was  received  by  the  college  and  its  invited 
friends  with  great  applause.  Blacque  Bey,  who  was 
Ottoman  minister  at  Washington  during  the  time  of 
our  long  contest,  was  also  present  at  the  table.  Mr. 
Seward  was  physically  a  wreck  ;  but  the  powers  of 
his  brilliant  mind  did  not  seem  to  be  attainted.  He 
made  a  noble  address,  in  reply  to  mine  addressing 
him.  Thus  the  public  opening  of  Robert  College 
passed  off  with  great  eclat. 

But  this  did  not  solve  our  mystery.  It  rather 
deepened  it ;  and  I  said  to  a  number  of  friends : 
*'  There  was  some  power,  supernatural  if  you  please, 
behind  Aali  Pasha  and  the  sultan  that  does  not  yet 
appear.  What  stopped  so  suddenly  Jesuits  and 
diplomats  and  made  them  all  acquiesce  .'^  '  Oh,'  you 
reply  *  the  imperial  irade.'  What  pushed  the  Sultan 
then  to  put  forth  his  power  against  them  and  to 
put  the  college  under  the  protection  of  the  United 
States,  neither  of  which  priceless  boons  was  ever 
suggested  even  on  our  part  .'*  " 

But  the  undoubtedly  true  explanation  was  to  be 
given.  A  few  weeks  after  the  opening,  which  had 
a  quasi-national  character,  a  Tuikish  gentleman 
called  to  see  the  college.  He  was  a  man  of  no 
ordinary  address  and  bearing ;  but  he  was  alone  and. 


^yO  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

I  did  not  doubt,  was  a  tepdil,  or  incognito.  After  ex- 
amining the  college  and  its  curriculum  with  apparent 
interest  and  with  great  intelligence,  he  apologized, 
on  leaving,  for  claiming  so  much  of  my  time,  and 
added  :  — 

*'  I  think  more  highly  of  English  education  than 
of  any  other.  I  have  some  little  grandsons,  and 
when  they  are  old  enough,  I  intend  to  send  them  to 
this  college." 

I  then  said  to  him :  "Do  you  speak  English,  sir.!*" 

He  replied,  in  perfectly  good  English  :  "  Why,  yes, 
sir,  on  occasions ;  but  I  have  had  no  occasion 
to  speak  it  here." 

I  wished  to  see  more  of  him,  and  I  invited  him  to 
the  college  tower  to  survey  the  scenery  spread  out 
before  and  around  it.  He  assented,  and  was  so 
charmed  with  the  view  that  he  became  eloquent  in 
descanting  upon  it,  declaring  that  no  university  in 
Europe,  and  he  had  seen  many  of  them,  could  match 
this  scenery  of  the  Bosphorus  and  its  historic  shores. 

As  he  turned  to  go  down  he  said  :  "  Ah,  sir !  we 
would  never  have  given  you  leave  to  build  your  col- 
lege here  had  it  not  been  for  that  bloody  insurrection 
in  Crete  !  " 

"'That  bloody  insurrection  in  Crete!'"  I  ex- 
claimed in  unfeigned  surprise.  "  What, /^rC'V,  could 
that  have  to  do  with  building  this  college -j,?!^  ?  " 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      47  T 

*'  Oh,  we  understood  it  perfectly  well,"  he  replied 
with  a  reproving  sort  of  smile. 

"  But  you  speak  enigmas,"  I  said  ;  "I  do  not 
understand   it." 

*'  Have  you  been  so  long  a  resident  in  Turkey 
without  knowing  about  that  insurrection  that  for  a 
long  time  kept  us  on  the  very  edge  of  war  }  " 

**  I  knew  all  about  that,  sir  ;  it  is  the  connection 
of  the  two  that  I  do  not  understand  at  all." 

He  evidently  doubted  my  sincerity,  but  proceeded 
to  say  :  ''  Why,  when  your  great  Admiral  Farragut 
was  here  that  insurrection  was  our  greatest  embar- 
rassment, taxing  all  our  skill  and  power.  We  would 
have  gladly  seen  Crete  swallowed  up  in  the  sea ; 
but  to  grant  her  freedom  would  have  involved  the 
loss  of  all  our  islands,  and  would  have  brought  on 
the  disintegration  of  the  empire.  Greek  delegations 
surrounded  the  admiral,  and  reported  that  he  had 
promised  to  pass  along  the  shores  of  Crete  and  take 
off  the  refugees  to  Greece ;  and,  moreover,  that  he 
had  assured  them  that  his  government  would  sell 
them  one  of  its  monitors.  This  gave  us  just  cause 
of  alarm,  which  was  increased  not  a  little  when  the 
admiral  came  to  dine  with  the  Sultan's  high 
officers  of  state.  He  asked  the  grand  vizier,  point 
blank,  v'  v  that  American  college  could  not  be 
built,      r  .    grand  vizier  replied    in  friendly  terms, 


472  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

and  the  great  admiral  said  not  a  word.  But  he  con- 
tinued to  ask  the  same  question  right  and  left,  to 
the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  to  the  minister  of 
war,  and  of  the  navy :  '  I  would  like  to  ask  your 
excellency  a  question.  I  would  like  to  know  why 
that  American  college  can't  be  built  ? '  To  all  he 
held  the  same  absolute  silence,  and  said  not  a  word. 
We  saw  clearly  that  the  United  States  government 
was  holding  that  college  question  over  against  us; 
and  the  admiral  was  assured  that  all  difficulties  were 
removed  and  the  college  would  soon  be  built.  But 
when  he  rather  suddenly  left  and  went  straight  out 
by  Gibraltar,  we  breathed  easily,  and  we  had  no 
intention  of  granting  you  leave.  A  few  months 
after,  those  letters  from  leading  New  York  papers 
were  sent,  translated  and  in  the  original.  They  were 
very  severe  and  unjust  on  the  Cretan  case,  but  they 
were  written  with  ability  and  exact  knowledge.  We 
said,  There  is  the  finger  of  the  great  admiral  in  this. 
His  government  is  preparing  the  American  people 
for  intervention.  If  only  an  American  monitor 
should  come  into  the  Mediterranean,  it  would  be 
followed  by  war  with  Greece  ;  and  (lifting  up  both 
hands)  war  begun  with  Greece,  Allah  himself  only 
knows  where  it  would  end  !  And  we  had  been 
warned  that  this  college  question  would  become  a 
thorny  one,  and  that   political   complications    would 


mf  J 'ill 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      473 

finally  compel  us  to  grant  even  more  than  was 
asked.  We  now  felt  the  thorns,  we  saw  the  compli- 
cations, and  we  said  :  Better  build  a  hundred  col- 
leges for  the  Americans  with  our  own  money  than 
to  have  one  of  Farragut's  monitors  come  into  the 
Mediterranean  !  So  we  gave  you  leave  to  build  on 
this  matchless  spot.  We  gave  you  the  imperial 
irade  —  which  we  never  give  —  and  we  placed  this 
college  under  the  protection  of  the  United  States  as 
the  greatest  compliment  to  your  government ;  and 
so  (spreading  both  hands  in  a  horizontal  motion, 
with  a  smile  of  great  satisfaction)  we  smoothed  it 
all  off." 

The  letters  above  referred  to  were  written  by  the 
inspiration  of  two  Greek  gentlemen  in  New  York. 
Whether  the  astute  diplomats  interpreted  everything 
aright  I  am  not  called  upon  to  say.  I  prefer  to 
repeat  i  Cor.  i  :  26-29. 

A  few  things  that  had  perplexed  us  now  became 
luminous :  the  glorious  irade  instead  of  the  vizerial 
order.  Aali  Pasha  brought  this  about  for  two  rea- 
sons :  one  the  critical  urgency  of  the  case  as  he 
viewed  it,  and  the  other  the  impossibility  of  giving 
the  order  himself  without  losing  his  official  head ; 
for  he  had  promised  these  hostile  diplomats  it  should 
never  be  given.  But  the  Sultan,  giving  it  by  his 
imperial    and    infallible    authority,    would    clear    the 


474  ^^^  Z/y'i?   AND    TIMES. 

pasha  greatly.  It  would,  moreover,  paralyze  those 
diplomats  who  had  made  all  the  trouble,  and  who 
would  never  on  this  question  endanger  their  own  place 
by  questioning  the  sacred  authority  of  the  Sultan. 

Putting  the  college  under  the  protection  of  the 
United  States  not  only  removed  the  cause  of  the 
trouble,  but  bound  the  Union  to  a  friendly  response. 
I  could  now  see  why  the  pasha  should  become 
so  friendly,  who  had  said,  "Won't  this  Mr.  Ham- 
lin ever  die  and  let  me  alone  .^"  He  felt  good 
and  happy  himself.  He  had  saved  his  empire,  he 
had  conciliated  a  prospective  enemy,  he  had  para- 
lyzed all  unfriendly  diplomacy,  he  had  done  me 
justice,  and  he  looked  upon  me  as  one  supported 
by  my  government ;  and  he  had  won  new  claims  to 
the  imperial  favor. 

I  cannot  allow  my  long  acquaintance  with  Ahmed 
Vefyk  Pasha  to  pass  without  notice.  He  was  provi- 
dentially and  closely  allied  to  the  history  of  the  col- 
lege, and  in  a  way  which  has  not  been  recorded. 

That  site  was  my  ideal  for  a  college  before  I  had 
any  thought  of  founding  one.  He  once  told  me  that 
he  had  often  seen  me  walking  along  the  brow  of  the 
site  and  looking  off,  and  he  imagined  that  I  was  say- 
ing. This  is  the  place  for  a  college.  I  did  not  then 
know  who  was  the  possessor  of  the  place.  But 
when  in   1859  I  agreed  with  Mr.   Robert  to  launch 


THE  FOUNDiyC    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      475, 

out  into  the  deep  on  that  untried  voyage,  I  sought 
for  the  owner  first  of  all.  I  was  told  he  was  the 
Ottoman  ambassador  in  Paris.  Mr.  Brown,  our  sec- 
retary of  legation,  was  just  then  going  to  Paris,  and 
I  commissioned  him  to  treat  for  the  place  and  to  give 
as  high  as  ;£3,ooo,  or  $15,000  of  our  money,  but  for 
the  whole  field  on  both  sides  of  the  road,  all  of  which 
we  now  own. 

Ahmed  Vefyk  replied  to  Mr.  Brown  in  very  de- 
cided terms  :  "  Tell  Mr.  Hamlin  if  he  has  land  to 
sell,  I  will  listen  to  him  ;  if  he  is  only  a  purchaser, 
I  have  nothing  to  say,  and  no  terms  to  offer."  I 
accordingly  purchased  the  lot  at  Korouchesme,  as- 
has  been  said.  Now  how  came  he  after  his  return 
from   Paris  to  offer  me  the  site } 

Pie  one  day  gave  me  an  interesting  account  of  the 
whole  affair.  While  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid  lived,  his 
place  at  Paris  was  everything  he  could  wish.  His 
bills  for  diplomatic  dinners  were  very  heavy,  but 
promptly  paid.  The  Sultan  enjoined  it  upon  him  to 
allow  no  embassy  to  surpass  the  Ottoman  in  the 
splendor  and  attractiveness  of  its  dinners.  "I 
assure  you,"  he  said,  ''that  our  dinners  gathered 
to  them  the  most  distinguished  guests  and  always 
received  the  highest  praise. 

"So  long  as  Abdul  Medjid  lived,  my  reports  and 
itemized   bills    received    his   full   approbation.     Aali 


476  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

was  unable  to  undermine  my  influence.  His  death 
gave  him  the  opportunity  he  had  watched  for.  The 
ambassadorial  expenses  were  cut  down  so  that  very 
useful  employes  were  dismissed.  Finally  the  bill 
for  diplomatic  dinners  was  disallowed.  I  was  com- 
pelled to  resign  with  a  debt  of  150,000  francs  — 
$30,000.  I  was  driven  out,  without  one  charge 
brought  against  me.  My  honor  and  my  regard  for 
the  honor  of  my  government  would  not  allow  me  to 
leave  bills  in  Paris  unpaid.  I  exhausted  all  my  pri- 
vate resources,  and  then  was  compelled  to  sell  this 
choice  position  which  you  now  own,  and  where  I 
hoped  some  day  to  build  a  kiosk." 

This  Paris  quarrel  played  its  secret  part  in  the 
Robert  College  contest.  Aali  demanded  that 
Ahmed  should  pay  back  the  money  to  me  and 
resume  the  possession  of  the  land,  to  which  Ahmed 
replied  :  "  With  the  greatest  pleasure,  when  you  will 
settle  my  just  claims  upon  the  government  for  the 
expenses  of  its  embassy  in  Paris."  The  two  men 
hated  each  other,  and  Ahmed  Vefyk  enjoyed  the 
pertinacity  of  the  college  contest  and  its  complete 
triumph  over  Aali.  It  made  him  laugh  and  grow 
fat.     And  it  made  him  my  friend. 

I  one  day  asked  him  about  Abdul  Medjid.  He 
spoke  of  him  with  admiration  and  affection,  but 
deplored  the  influences  that   surrounded  him.     He 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      477 

said  he  was  always  a  gentleman.  He  had  known  him 
from  his  advent  to  the  throne.  He  was  always  kind 
and  considerate  of  others.  He  was  always  doing 
little  kindnesses,  such  as  would  not  be  expected 
from  a  Sultan,  to  those  around  him.  With  better 
surroundings  he  would  have  been  a  model  sovereign. 

He  regarded  Abdul  Aziz  as  perfectly  qualified  to 
destroy  an  empire.  I  think  Ahmed  Vefyk  always 
believed  that  our  government  frightened  Aali  to  do 
what  he  did,  and  he  would  have  scouted  my  view  of 
it.  He  would  have  said  :  That  pasha  that  visited 
you  told  you  the  exact  truth. 

Ahmed  Vefyk  Effendi  became,  after  the  death  of 
Aali,  Ahmed  Vefyk  Pasha,  for  his  many  distinguished 
services.  He  was  a  most  decided  character,  full  of 
contradictions,  and  very  difficult  to  delineate.  He 
was  a  man  of  immense  energy  and  courage,  abso- 
lutely fearless,  sometimes  reckless  of  consequences, 
but  he  had  some  noble  traits  of  character  that  drew 
me  to  him  with  great  force. 

In  his  moral  and  religious  feelings  he  was  an  in- 
compatible mixture.  He  professed  to  be  an  ardent 
Mussulman,  but  in  many  things  he  had  more  sympathy 
with  Christianity.  He  was  personally  acquainted  with 
Renan,  but  ridiculed  his  writings  as  fanciful.  He 
gave  a  course  of  lectures  to  a  Turkish  scientific  club 
upon  cosmogony,  in  which  he  ably  argued  the  sub- 


478  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 

stantial  agreement  of  Genesis  with  the  ascertained 
facts  of  science.  His  lectures  showed  that  he  had 
carefully  read  the  best  authors  on  both  sides. 

I  had  a  standing  invitation  to  drop  in  and  take  a 
cup  of  tea  with  him  any  day  between  three  and  four 

P.M. 

One  day,  seeing  a  large  volume  on  his  desk,  look- 
ing like  an  Arabic  Bible,  I  asked  him  what  it  was. 
He  replied:  ''That  is  the  Azziz  Kitab,  the  Holy 
Bible,  and  the  most  elegantly  printed  book  I  ever 
saw  in  Arabic."  He  then  burst  out  into  a  eulogy 
and  a  comparison  of  Isaiah  and  the  Psalms,  which 
surprised  and  delighted  me.  He  placed  Isaiah  above 
all  the  poets  for  the  richness  and  elevation  of  his 
imagery.  "  I  have  studied  your  Shakespeare  atten- 
tively," he  said  (I  had  heard  him  repeat  with  infinite 
zest  whole  pages),  "but  Isaiah  is  on  a  plane  above 
him."  He  went  on  to  remark  upon  the  Psalms  as 
very  different,  being  both  devotional  and  medita- 
tive. "  They  are  full  of  the  experiences  of  life.  A 
man  in  trouble  derives  great  patience  from  the 
Psalms.  They  teach  us  to  say  :  *  Our  refuge  is  in 
God.*  ^  I  take  great  pleasure  in  reading  both  Isaiah 
and  the  Psalms." 

Such  remarks  from  such  a  man    struck   me  with 


*  This  is  a  Turkish  saying  in  common  use.     If  a  Turk  is  in  any  doubt,  perplexity i 
or  trouble,  he  winds  up  by  saying.  Our  refuge  is  in  God. 


Ahmed  Viii  yk  Ki  i  kndi. 


THE  FOUXDIXG    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE. 


479 


great  force.  Thoughtful  Mussulmans  read  our  Scrip- 
tures more  than  we  think,  and  they  testify  to  the 
inherent  power  of  the  Word  of  God.  They  are  a 
rebuke  to  those  of  Christian  name  who  despise 
the  Bible  or  devote  their  time  and  learning  to  its 
depreciation. 

The  college  soon  filled  up  its  new  premises.  Bul- 
garians, Armenians,  Greeks,  and  foreigners  of  varied 
nationalities  poured  in,  and  proved  beyond  question 
that  the  time  for  college  education  in  the  East  had 
fully  come. 

Yielding  to  the  insistence  of  Mr.  Robert,  I  went 
to  America  in  1871  to  raise  an  endowment  for  the 
college.  I  had  little  faith  in  the  project  and  no  faith 
in  my  own  capabilities  as  a  beggar.  The  great  fire 
in  Chicago  occurred  while  I  was  C7i  route  for  Amer- 
ica. That  so  much  disturbed  the  business  world 
that  it  was  thought  best  not  to  make  the  effort  then. 
I  immediately  returned,  erected  the  Study  Hall  back 
of  the  college,  and  laid  the  foundations  for  two 
professors'  houses,  for  which  permission  to  build  was 
not  given. 

In  1873  I  left,  with  my  family,  to  make  a  serious 
business  of  raising  an  endowment  for  the  college.  I 
undoubtedly  made  a  great  mistake  in  entering  upon 
this  work.  I  should  have  resigned  all  connection 
with  the  college,  and  sought    means    of    support  at 


480  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

home,  or  entered  again  upon  missionary  work  ;  but 
my  confidence  in  Mr.  Robert  was  such,  and  my 
blindness  to  the  plans  of  others  was  such  that, 
like  a  fool,  I  went  straight  forward.  I  had  perhaps 
the  usual  amount  of  sagacity  in  understanding  men 
with  whom  I  was  in  conflict  or  with  whom  I  had 
business  relations,  but  to  be  suspicious  of  friends 
was  so  contrary  to  my  nature  that  nothing  but  the 
most  astounding  facts  could  make  me  believe  their 
treachery. 

Before  we  left  Constantinople,  we  were  invited  to 
meet  some  friends  at  the  house  of  our  English  friend 
in  Bebek,  Mr.  John  Seager.  We  went  in  the  sim- 
plicity of  our  hearts.  It  was  only  on  the  way  to  the 
house  that  a  friend  intimated  that  there  might  be  a 
presentation  of  something  to  us.  "  Well !  "  said  I  in 
some  surprise,  "then  I  know  what  it  will  be!  It 
will  be  a  coffeepot*! "  For  I  had  considerable  dis- 
tinction among  my  English  and  American  friends 
for  furnishing  excellent  coffee  at  all  our  soirees.  I 
was  indeed  the  cafejee  of  the  English  and  American 
colony  at  Bebek. 

It  was  a  great  surprise  to  me  to  find  such  an 
assemblage  of  English  and  American  friends.  A 
table  at  one  end  of  the  long  hall  was  covered  with  a 
white  spread,  making  evident  that  a  number  of  arti- 
cles were  beneath  —  not  merely  a  single  coffeepot. 


THE  FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      48 1 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Thomson,  agent  of  the  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society,  sat  behind  the  table.  When  all 
things  were  ready  he  rose  and  read  the  following 
address,  beautifully  engrossed  upon  vellum  :  — 

To  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Robert 
College,  Constantinople. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir,  —  Your  removal  from  Bebek,  where 
you  have  resided  with  slight  interruptions  for  the  last  thirty- 
three  years,  and  where  we  have  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  your 
society,  appears  to  us  a  suitable  occasion  for  giving  expression 
to  the  feelings  which  we  have  long  entertained  towards  you. 

As  a  missionary  for  many  years  of  the  American  Board  to 
the  Armenians,  you  won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  that 
nationality,  and  doubtless,  in  their  own  language,  you  preached 
to  them  the  Gospel  of  God  with  the  same  fervour  and  faithful- 
ness which  have  so  often  edified  ourselves  in  your  English 
ministrations.  We  admired  also  your  wisdom  in  introducing 
manual  labour,  within  due  bounds,  among  the  students  of  the 
Mission  Seminaries,  thus  cultivating  among  them  a  spirit  of 
self-reliance,  while  diminishing  materially  the  expenses  of  the 
Board. 

Those  years  will  ever  be  associated  in  our  minds  with  the  events 
of  the  Crimean  War,  and  we  recall  with  gratitude  the  important 
services  you  rendered  to  the  British  army  by  erecting  a  washing 
establishment  for  the  hospitals  at  Koululee,  and  also  by  supply- 
ing them  and  those  at  Scutari  with  wholesome  bread,  while  with 
the  profits  of  the  latter  enterprise  you  created  a  fund,  which  has 
largely  aided  the  erection  of  churches  for  the  native  Protestant 
congregations  of  this  country. 

Equally  conspicuous  were  your  exertions  during  the  terrible 


482  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

visitation  of  cholera  in  the  Capital  in  1865.  The  "  cholera  mix- 
ture "  which  you  brought  into  use  was  doubtless  the  means, 
under  God,  of  saving  many  lives,  but  we  equally  value  the 
example  of  your  courage  in  penetrating  into  the  pestilential 
abodes  of  the  neglected  population  of  this  city. 

On  that  occasion,  however,  you  merely  dispensed,  in  a  more 
public  manner,  the  kind  sympathy,  the  wise  counsel,  and  the 
prompt  personal  assistance,  which  you  have  ever  manifested 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Bebek  of  every  nationality,  and  which, 
bestowed  upon  ourselves  in  the  hour  of  distress  and  sorrow, 
we  shall  ever  gratefully  remember. 

These  services  have  endeared  you  to  us  all;  while  we  have 
ever  found  you  affable  and  generous,  fertile  in  expedients,  and 
ready  to  support  everything  that  could  promote  the  happiness 
and  improvement  of  the  community. 

In  connection  with  the  noble  Institution  over  which  you  now 
preside,  we  admired  the  prudence  and  perseverance  with  which 
you  surmounted  the  opposition  which  so  long  resisted  its  estab- 
lishment. Now  that  you  have  been  privileged  to  erect  for  it  so 
befitting  a  habitation,  may  you  be  spared  for  many  years  to 
watch  over  its  interests. 

It  is  your  distinction  as  President  of  Robert  College  to  present 
to  the  youth  of  all  the  nationalities  of  this  empire  the  means  of 
attaining  high  literary  culture  and  scientific  eminence,  and  to 
offer  at  the  same  time  an  example  of  firm  faith  in  the  divine 
Authority  of  the  Bible,  and  of  reverent  obedience  to  its 
precepts. 

By  the  diffusion  of  such  truly  Christian  education,  Robert 
College  cannot  fail  to  be  a  blessing  to  this  land. 

In  short,  we  have  been  directed  by  your  counsel,  encouraged 
by  your  example,  and  instructed  and  edified  by  your  minis tra- 


THE   FOUNDING    OF  ROBERT   COLLEGE.      483 


tions  ;  and  we  pray  that  God  may  bestow  on  yourself  and  all  the 
members  of  your  family  his  richest  blessings,  guiding  you  here 
with  his  counsel,  and  afterwards  receiving  you  to  glory. 

We  are,  reverend  and  dear  sir,  your  very  affectionate  friends. 


James  Binns, 
E.  E.  Bliss, 
I.  G.  Bliss, 
E.  M.  Bliss, 
W.  R.  Bull, 
Mrs.  Calluci, 
Hy.  I.  Hanson, 
A.  W.  Hanson, 
W.  Wellesley  Hanson, 
George  Jacobs, 
W.  E.  Jackson, 
Henry  Lamb, 
Albert  L.  Long, 
L  F.  Pettibone, 
Hy.  Ridley, 
Jno.  Rowell, 
Rudolf  Schneider, 
Constantinople,  May,  1873. 


G.  H.  Clifton, 
E.  F.  Ede, 
George  Gatheral, 
J.  K.  Greene, 
H.  Groppler, 
C.  S.  Hanson, 
Jno.  Seager, 
W.  Seller, 
W.  G.  Schauffler, 
W.  R.  Swan, 
Thos.  Swan, 
Octs.  Swan, 
Hy.  Swan, 
AlexY  Swan, 
John  R.  Thomson, 
Edwin  Thomson, 
G.  W.  Wood, 


The  articles  presented  were  a  beautiful  gold  watch, 
and  a  silver  tea-set,  upon  a  fine,  heavily  silver-plated 
tray.  At  one  end  of  this  tray  was  engraved  a  per- 
fect picture  of  Robert  College,  the  newest  public 
building  in  the  city,  and  at  the  other  end,  of  St. 
Sophia,  the  oldest,  erected  by  Justinian  about  535 
A.D.     On   a  shield    between  the    two    pictures  were 


484  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^    TIMES. 

engraved  the  words  of  presentation.  These  came 
from  English  and  American  friends  in  Bebek,  and 
in  Candilli  on  the  Asiatic  side.  Our  English  friends 
elsewhere  were  displeased  that  they  were  not  in- 
cluded. Then,  they  said,  they  would  have  made  it 
general,  and  *'  done  something  worthy  of  the  occa- 
sion !  "  But  these  mementoes  are  very  precious  to 
us.  They  are  tokens  of  friendship  cemented  by 
years  of  association  and  sympathy  in  all  those  expe- 
riences referred  to  in  the  too  flattering  words  of  the 
presentation. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

ENDOWMENT   FUND    FOR    ROBERT    COLLEGE. 


W 


'E  left  Constantinople  in  October,  1873,  and 
reached  the  United  States  in  November, 
having  made  delightful  visits  in  London  with  the 
Minasians  and  with  English  friends,  and  in  Glasgow 
with  our  good  friends  the  Stoddards,  and  in  Edin- 
burgh with  dear  Dr.  Cullen  and  others.  We  plunged 
into  a  northern  winter,  and  before  I  had  accomplished 
much  in  my  work  I  was  compelled,  by  medical  advice, 
to  flee  to  Florida.  A  more  serious  trouble  than  pul- 
monary disease  was  developing  itself,  in  a  crural 
tumor,  pronounced  by  eminent  medical  judgment 
to  be  a  cancer.  But  it  was  of  slow  growth,  and  I 
hoped  it  would  give  me  time  to  finish  my  work. 

My  residence  at  Jacksonville  was  made  remark- 
able by  the  generous  kindness  of  friends  in  New 
England.  I  had  found  a  very  pleasant  boarding 
place  at  the  house  of  Rev.  Mr.  Warner,  a  Presby- 
terian minister,  who  came  to  Jacksonville  for  his 
health,  and  very  successfully  opened  a  boarding 
house  for  his  support.  The  weather  was  very  rainy 
and  gloomy  ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  come  to 


485 


486 


MY  LIFE   AND    TIMES. 


be  buried  in  the  white  sands  of  Florida.  I  had  been 
there  but  three  or  four  days,  when  I  received  a  note 
from  my  college  friend,  Cyrus  Woodman,  Esq.,  of 
Cambridge,  enclosing  a  check  for  fifty  dollars,  which 
he  enjoined  upon  me  to  use  only  in  recreation.  This 
was  followed  by  many  other  checks  from  my  cousins, 
the  Fosters  and  Faulkners,  so  that  I  had  no  occasion 
to  call  upon  Mr.  Robert  for  a  penny  :  and  I  could 
follow  "  the  sight  of  my  own  eyes  "  without  regard  to 
expense. 

I  formed  some  delightful  acquaintances  and  made 
some  interesting  tours.  I  passed  a  month  in  St. 
Augustine,  made  memorable  by  the  kindness  of 
those  remarkable  missionaries.  Miss  Mather  and 
Miss  Perit,  and  Mrs.  Anderson,  the  owner  of  the 
great  orange  orchard,  from  whose  trees  I  had  leave 
to  pick  the  choicest  oranges  at  will. 

I  visited  the  Stowes  at  Mandarin,  and  played 
croquet  with  Mrs.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  who  beat 
me  "all  hollow."  I  went  up  the  Ocklawaha,  in  the 
month  of  April,  though  warned  that  I  should  be 
devoured  by  mosquitoes.  But  I  suffered  not  the 
least  annoyance ;  and  I  made  a  unique  steamer 
excursion  among  forest  trees,  lily  pads,  and  alligators. 
We  diverged  from  our  route  to  the  celebrated  Silver 
Spring  —  that  wondrous  basin  of  water,  so  deep  and 
pure  that  one  resting  quietly  there  in  a  boat  almost 


ENDOWMENT  EOR  ROBERT   COLLEGE.       487 

feels  himself  suspended  in  the  air.  One  of  my 
fellow  passengers  was  a  lawyer  from  Indiana.  He 
was  always  looking  out  to  get  objects  worthy  of 
sending  to  his  lady-love  at  home.  He  went  out  with 
one  of  the  sailors,  in  a  little  boat,  and  attempting  to 
land  upon  a  tree  that  had  fallen  in,  his  foot  slipped, 
and  he  fell  upon  the  back  of  a  great  sleeping  alli- 
gator !  The  'gator  was  as  much  frightened  as  the 
man,  and  made  off,  while  the  man  crawled  out  as 
quickly  as  possible  !  He  could  not  capture  the  big 
alligator  to  send  to  his  betrothed,  but  he  captured 
five  or  six  little  ones,  and  sent  them  all  on  by  mail,  a 
unique  present  from  a  lover  to  his  "  lady  "  ! 

On  my  return  to  Jacksonville,  I  found  my  dear 
friend  and  brother.  Dr.  Chickering,  very  ill  of  pneu- 
monia, at  Mr.  Solon  Robinson's.  There  was  little 
hope'  of  his  recovery.  But  through  the  skillful  atten- 
tions of  Dr.  Mitchell  and  the  great  kindness  of  the 
Robinson  family  he  was  brought  round.  In  the 
month  of  May  we  journeyed  part  of  the  way  home 
together.  He  was  a  most  genial  fellow  traveler. 
His  life  had  been  full  of  incident,  and  he  had  some 
wonderful  meetings  with  old  friends  on  our  way. 

From  Jacksonville  we  had  a  famous  excursion  to 
Tallahassee.  About  seventy  northerners  had  been 
invited  to  visit  the  place,  in  the  hope  of  attracting 
them    to    make    it    a    winter    residence.      We    were 


488  ^y  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

received  by  the  first  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the 
place  in  the  city  hall.  I  was  introduced  by  a  con- 
federate colonel,  the  leader  of  our  expedition,  to  four 
confederate  generals,  as  the  brother  of  Hannibal 
Hamlin,  the  late  Vice-President,  although  I  had  told 
him  an  hour  before  that  I  was  his  cousin.  One 
of  the  generals  remarked  with  surprise:  "Why,  I 
thought  the  Vice-President  was  a  mulatto !  "  Gen- 
eral Tyler,  son  of  ex-President  Tyler,  laughed  heart- 
ily and  said  :  "  Sir,  that  was  political  claptrap !  " 
Of  course  they  had  a  dance,  and  the  tallest  North- 
ern lady  danced  with  the  shortest  Southern  gentle- 
man. It  was  extremely  comical ;  perhaps  indicative 
of  the  difficulty  with  which  the  North  and  South  join 
together. 

After  this  very  pleasant  visit  at  Tallahassee,  we 
stopped  on  our  return  for  a  couple  of  hours  at  Mon- 
ticello.  There  were  a  few  carriages  and  a  great 
many  saddle  horses  awaiting  us.  Mr.  Miller,  of 
Yonkers,  and  myself  selected  the  best  looking  car- 
riage and  horses,  and  engaged  them  for  the  excursion 
to  the  village.  We  agreed  together  not  to  make  any 
bargain  with  the  man,  but  to  pay  him  generously,  as 
we  saw  the  poverty  of  the  people.  Mr.  Miller  and 
three  ladies  took  the  inside ;  I  took  the  seat  on  the 
box  with  the  driver.  I  commended  his  horses,  but 
criticized  severely  the  manner  in  which  he  kept  his 


ENDOWMENT  FOR   ROBERT   COLLEGE.       489 

harnesses  and  the  inside  of  his  carriage.  I  said  to 
him  :  "  If  you  would  only  slick  up  this  establishment, 
you  would  get  all  the  custom  of  the  station  !  I  have 
not  seen  another  team  here  that  can  compare  with 

yours  ! " 

He  replied  apologetically:  "There  are  many  things 
we  would  like  to  do,  but  we  don't  find  the  time  to  do 
them." 

"Find  the  time.?"  said  I,  "then  make  the  time! 
It  is  very  foolish  to  let  things  go  to  pieces  in  this 

way  ! 

But    other   things    demanded    attention,   and   the 

criticisms  ceased. 

We  were  passing  along  by  some  fine,  large  resi- 
dences, with  spacious  flower  grounds  in  front.  In 
the  grounds  of  the  very  noblest  of  these  a  lady 
stood  making  up  bouquets.  The  driver  reined  in  his 
spirited  steeds.  The  lady  came  up  and  presented  to 
each  of  us  a  beautiful  bouquet.  The  driver  simply 
said  to  us  :  "  My  wife,  gentlemen  and  ladies  !  "  He 
was  lord  of  the  finest  mansion  in  Monticello  !  But 
he  was  a  gentleman,  and  was  evidently  amused  by 
the  confusion  that  covered  us. 

Afterwards  Mr.  Miller  and  I  had  an  interesting  con- 
versation with  him  about  the  abolition  of  slavery  and 
the  condition  of  things  in  that  region.  He  declared 
that  there  was  no  desire  in  the  South  to  have  slavery 


490 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


restored.  All  they  needed  was  capital  to  start  with. 
But  they  were  so  absolutely  impoverished  by  the  war 
that  it  was  difficult  to  make  a  start. 

On  my  return  North,  with  my  improved  health,  I 
went  into  the  distasteful  work  of  soliciting  funds  for 
the  endowment  of  the  college.  To  my  surprise,  I 
found  the  rich  and  benevolent  men  of  New  York 
city,  with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  wholly  disin- 
clined to  give  the  college  any  aid.  They  received 
me  personally  with  great  kindness,  and  were  warm  in 
commendation  of  the  object  of  the  institution,  and 
of  the  long  fight  which  I  had  made  for  its  establish- 
ment. But  as  for  giving  money  —  Mr.  Robert  had 
established  the  college  ;  it  was  called  after  him  ;  and 
he  must  endow  it !  Men  would  say  this  who  were 
worth  twenty  times  as  much  as  Mr.  Robert  was. 

I  slowly  perceived  that  Mr.  Robert  was  very  un- 
popular in  the  matter  of  charities.  He  was  a  really 
benevolent  man.  He  had  favorite  charities,  which 
he  supported.  He  always  had  some  theological  stu- 
dents whom  he  was  assisting  to  prepare  for  the  min- 
istry. He  showed  me  a  list  of  thirty-three  names  of 
men  thus  aided  by  him,  who  were  then  in  the  minis- 
try, some  of  them  men  of  distinguished  usefulness. 
In  the  course  of  his  life  he  aided  about  two  hundred 
students.  But  he  had  this  marked  characteristic  — 
he  preferred  to  manage  his  own   charities  himself. 


ENDOWMENT  FOR  ROBERT   COLLEGE.       49 1 

and  not  to  be  interfered  with,  nor  to  interfere  with 
others.  For  that  reason  no  one  was  willing  to  aid 
him  in  this  enterprise  which  he  had  undertaken,  in 
regard  to  which  he  had  entirely  changed  his  mode  of 
working.  Any  suggestion  of  this  kind  was  evidently 
offensive  to  him.  But  he  made  an  experiment  him- 
self which  must  have  convinced  him. 

He  selected  the  names  of  eighty  gentlemen,  and 
sent  to  each  one  of  them  a  blank  check,  inviting  him 
to  give  his  aid  in  the  very  important  and  noble  enter- 
prise. He  never  received  so  much  as  one  dollar  in 
response.  This  was  to  him  a  source  of  great  pain 
and  humiliation.  But  while  gentlemen  from  whom  I 
solicited  aid  often  spoke  of  Mr.  Robert's  peculiar 
habits  of  benevolence,  they  never  referred  to  his  per- 
sonal character  in  terms  other  than  those  of  great 
respect.  He  was  noted  for  his  justice,  integrity, 
business  habits,  and  indomitable  will. 

But  my  further  efforts  were  cut  short  by  the  neces- 
sity of  submitting  myself  to  surgical  treatment.  It 
was  a  very  perplexing  case.  I  had  had  the  opportu- 
nity of  consulting  several  eminent  surgeons.  About 
half  of  them  were  certain  that  an  operation  would  be 
fatal.  While  in  this  perplexity,  my  friend  and  col- 
lege classmate  Dr.  James  Ayer  advised  me  to  put 
myself  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  and 
to   follow    implicitly  iiis   advice.      He   was   then  the 


492  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

most  eminent  surgeon  in  Boston,  and  especially  dis- 
tinguished for  treatment  of  cancers  and  tumors. 
Dr.  Ayer  very  kindly  introduced  me  to  Dr.  Bigelow. 
I  told  him  at  once  that  I  had  absolutely  no  compen- 
sation to  make,  if  he  should  undertake  my  case.  He 
took  it  humorously,  and  said,  if  all  his  patients  should 
address  him  in  that  way,  he  should  not  have  a  very 
profitable  practice !  But  as  he  was  aware  of  my 
treatment  of  cholera  in  the  East,  he  should  receive 
me  as  one  of  "the  brotherhood." 

After  two  very  searching  examinations,  he  decided 
that  the  tumor  was  a  cancer,  and  that  my  only 
chance  for  life  was  in  an  operation.  I  wished  him  to 
speak  with  entire  frankness,  as  though  he  were  talk- 
ing with  a  third  person  and  not  with  me.  He  said 
he  always  liked  that  in  a  patient,  and  he  would  do  so. 
He  said  he  thought  I  had  something  more  than  an 
even  chance  for  life  ;  and,  if  the  operation  should  be 
successful,  I  might  hope  for  about  three  years  before 
the  cancer  would  return.  He  said  I  must  decide  the 
question.  I  replied  :  *'  I  am  an  interested  party,  and 
have  neither  the  skill  nor  knowledge  for  a  decision. 
I  refer  the  decision  to  you,  doctor."  With  a  little 
hesitation  and  an  earnest  look,  he  then  struck  his 
hand  upon  his  knee  and  said  :  "  Upon  my  word.  Dr. 
Hamlin,  I  think  you  had  better  have  that  out !  " 

So  it  was  decided,  and  the  time  was  fixed  upon. 


ENDOWMENT  FOR  ROBERT   COLLEGE. 


493 


Dr.  Bigelow  was  very  kind  in  securing  a  room  in  the 
new  annex  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital, 
where,  as  he  said,  "there  could  be  no  hospitalism." 
I  then  applied  to  Messrs.  S.  D.  Warren  and  Ezra 
Farnsworth,  trustees  of  the  hospital,  to  authorize 
my  reception  there,  which  was  readily  and  generously 
granted,  with  the  remark  that  the  terms  would  be 
liberal  towards  me,  but  need  not  then  be  stated. 

When  I  presented  myself  for  the  operation,  I  was 
suffering  from  a  bad  cold.  Dr.  Bigelow  sent  me 
away  for  two  weeks  to  recuperate,  and  come  to  the 
test  in  the  best  condition  possible.  I  was  then  stay- 
ing with  my  sister  Rebecca.  But  her  house  was  very 
full.  I  wrote  a  note  to  my  dear  friend,  Mrs.  Walter 
Baker,  of  Dorchester,  saying  that  if  she  wanted 
another  dilapidated  case  to  fit  up  for  a  conflict,  there 
was  one  awaiting  her  at  number  8  Allston  Street. 
Never  did  a  message  go  by  mail  to  Dorchester  and 
receive  so  quick  a  return.  The  note  was  handed  her 
by  the  postman  just  as  she  was  getting  into  her  car- 
riage. She  drove  direct  to  Allston  Street,  and  took 
me  to  her  mansion.  There  I  had  such  attention  that 
I  could  not  help  improving.  I  was  under  her  care 
sixteen  days,  and  gained  six  or  seven  pounds  in 
weight.  Her  rich  milk,  cream,  crackers,  and  steaks 
are  never  to  be  forgotten.  But  for  this  preparation 
the  ordeal  would  doubtless  have  been  fatal. 


494 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


The  day  previous  to  the  operation,  Dr.  Bigelow 
and  Dr.  Hodges  (who  protested  against  the  opera- 
tion as  sure  to  be  fatal,  yet  consented  to  assist  Dr. 
Bigelow)  came  to  me  in  my  room,  and  referred  it  to 
me,  whether  I  would  have  the  operation  in  my  room 
or  in  the  operating  theater.  As  I  knew  he  desired 
to  have  it  in  the  latter  place,  much  as  I  preferred  my 
room,  I  felt  an  instant  obligation  of  duty  to  say  : 
"The  theater!" 

I  was  arranged  upon  an  operating  table  in  a  side 
room,  and  there  received  the  anaesthetic  ether.  As 
I  began  to  inhale  it  I  was  greatly  comforted  by  the 
prayer  of  my  childhood  :  — 

Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep: 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep ; 
If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take; 
And  this  I  ask  for  Jesus'  sake. 

That  seemed  to  be  everything  I  wanted,  and  I 
went  sweetly  into  the  anaesthetic  sleep  with  visions 
of  flowers  and  the  music  of  distant  bells.  When  I 
again  awoke  I  was  in  my  own  room,  with  my  wife 
standing  over  me.  And  when  I  was  assured  that  it 
was  all  over  I  exclaimed  :  "  Oh  !  great  is  ether  !  " 

I  was  told  by  two  or  three  of  the  medical  spec- 
tators in  the  theater  that,  after  some  remarks  upon 
the  critical  character  of   the  case,  the  operation  was 


ENDOWMENT  FOR   ROBERT   COLLEGE. 


495 


performed  with  very  great  celerity  and  with  little  loss 
of  blood.  The  operators  were  greatly  surprised  at 
the  tumor  that  was  disclosed.  Dr.  Bigelow  seized 
it,  and  cutting  into  it  exclaimed:  "A  fatty  tumor, 
gentlemen  !  We  may  congratulate  our  friend  on  this 
result  !  "  It  was  enclosed  in  a  peculiar  nodulous  and 
fibrous  sack  which  had  deceived  them. 

I  had  been  cautioned  that  Dr.  Bigelow,  although 
he  would  be  the  most  skillful  operator,  would  probably 
leave  me,  after  a  few  visits,  and  be  seen  no  more.  I 
kept  count  of  the  visits  he  paid  me  —  they  numbered 
sixty-seven !  I  owe  to  him  no  common  debt  of 
gratitude. 

Had  it  been  known  beforehand  that  the  tumor  was 
a  fatty  one,  the  operation  would  have  been  compari- 
tively  slight.  But  in  order  to  make  sure,  and  to 
remove  all  *' epithelial  matter,"  a  semicircular  flap 
was  cut  and  turned  back.  The  enormous  drain  of 
the  consequent  inflammation  and  suppuration  brought 
me  very  low. 

About  the  ninth  day  a  hiccough  was  occasionally 
an  alarming  symptom.  On  the  next  day,  in  the 
afternoon,  this  same  spasmodic  action  became  in- 
cessant and  uncontrollable.  I  recognized  the  fact 
that  remedies  produced  no  effect,  and  that  my  life 
was  ebbing  away.  At  tea  time  I  resolved  to  say  to 
my  wife  that  my  last  words  were  written  and  in  the 


496  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

table  drawer.  I  then  had  a  very  strange  and  wholly 
inexplicable  experience.  The  connection  between 
an  idea  and  its  expression  in  words  was  completely 
severed.  I  could  not  make  even  an  effort  to  speak. 
There  was  the  idea,  the  wish,  but  the  bodily  organs 
remained  perfectly  passive.  I  thought  I  would  say 
it  when  she  returned  from  tea.  But  there  was  the 
same  passivity  of  the  bodily  organs ;  and  I  felt  that 
I  was  to  speak  no  more  in  this  life.  I  was  kept  in 
peace  by  the  hope  of  a  better  life,  and  it  seemed  to 
me  that  the  loved  ones  of  my  home  were  waiting  to 
receive  me.  I  could  not  but  imagine  that  they  were 
hovering  over  my  bed  and  would  be  my  guides  into 
the  untried  life  beyond. 

Then  the  house  physician,  with  two  attendants, 
came  in  rather  brusquely,  and  spoke  to  me  abruptly. 
I  said  to  him  :  "  What  you  do,  do  quickly  !  "  "  Yes  !  " 
he  replied,  **  I  shall  have  a  new  medicine  here  in 
two  minutes!  "  But  just  then  the  door  opened  and 
the  apothecary  handed  him  a  pill  box.  He  took  out 
a  large  oblong  capsule ;  and,  putting  it  into  a  spoon 
with  some  water,  he  raised  my  head,  and  placing  the 
spoon  in  my  mouth,  he  said  :  "  There  !  swallow  that !  " 

His  tone  of  authority,  no  doubt,  enabled  me  to 
swallow  it  in  the  very  short  space  between  the  hic- 
coughs. He  gave  an  expression  of  gratification  and 
replaced    my   head    on    the   pillow.     I    soon    felt    a 


ENDOWMENT  FOR   ROBERT   COLLEGE.       497 

warmth  diffusing  itself  through  the  stomach  and 
the  terrible  hiccough  torture  ceased.  Oh  !  how  de- 
lightful was  the  feeling  of  rest  —  delicious  rest  ! 

The  physician  still  stayed  by.  In  about  ten  min- 
utes the  enemy  recommenced  his  attack.  Another 
capsule  was  then  given,  with  like  result.  The  doctor 
then  left,  saying  a  third  might  be  given  ;  but  not  a 
fourth  without  calling  him.  A  third  soon  had  to  be 
given  ;  and  I  then  slept  for  two  hours.  When  I 
awoke  I  was  very  weak,  but  I  knew  that  I  was 
coming  back  to  life.  But  again,  the  inveterate  hic- 
cough !  So  much  time  had  passed  that  a  fourth 
capsule  was  given ;  and  that  was  the  finishing 
stroke  !  the  doctor  was  glad  to  find  me  in  the  morn- 
ing with  a  chance  of  life. 

From  that  time  my  recovery,  though  slow,  was 
pretty  regular,  with  occasional  mishaps  and  fall 
backs.  But  there  was  no  suffering  at  all  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  long  backache  of  a  fixed  position. 
My  whole  stay  in  the  hospital  was  eighty-five  days. 
My  very  kind,  experienced,  and  sagacious  nurse, 
Miss  Wry,  who  had  been  eighteen  years  in  the  hos- 
pital, was  seized  with  an  illness  which  carried  her 
away  at  the  time  when  I  was  just  beginning  to  leave 
my  bed.  I  was  glad  that  I  could  go  to  her  room  in 
a  wheeled  chair  and  make  a  farewell  prayer  and 
benediction.     When  I  left  the  hospital,  /  Jiad  not  one 


498  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

cent  to  pay  !  I  had  received  the  most  lavish  kind- 
ness and  attention  from  physicians,  servants,  nurses, 
and  many  outside  friends.  I  was  glad  to  be  able,  by 
the  gift  of  ^50  from  Mrs.  H.  Upham,  to  leave  some 
expression  of  gratitude  to  the  nurses  who  had  been 
in  daily  attendance. 

In  that  long  confinement  I  learned  the  sweet 
ministry  of  flozve^'s  to  those  who  in  weakness  are 
long  confined  to  a  fixed  position.  Mrs.  Baker,  of 
Dorchester,  Mrs.  Claflin,  Mrs.  S.  D.  Warren,  Mrs. 
Hemenway,  Mrs.  Alpheus  Hardy,  and  probably 
others,  kept  my  room  supplied  with  the  choicest 
flowers.  They  spoke  to  me  of  the  love  and  tender- 
ness of  the  heavenly  Father  as  they  had  never  done 
before.  They  seemed  silent  but  cheerful  and  loving 
companions.  Deacon  Hobart,  of  Park  Street  Church, 
made  me  a  very  nice  adjustable  elevator  for  my 
shoulders  and  head,  which  gave  me  great  relief  in 
my  fixed  position.  I  left  it  for  others.  There  are 
now  many  such  contrivances  in  the  hospital.  Was 
not  the  promise  fulfilled  to  me :  "  A  hundredfold 
more  in  this  present  life  "  .-^ 

Two  or  three  days  before  leaving  the  hospital, 
Miss  Alice  Farnsworth  came  and  took  me  to  ride, 
after  more  than  eighty  days  of  incarceration.  No 
one  who  has  not  had  the  experience  can  conceive  of 
the  pleasure  of  that  excursion. 


ENDOWMENT  FOR  ROBERT   COLLEGE.       499 

Next  to  my  wife,  my  sister  Rebecca  had  the  deep- 
est joy  in  my  deliverance.  We  were  the  two  rem- 
nants of  our  happy  household,  and  the  thought  of 
her  remaining  as  the  only  one  was  anguish  to  her 
soul.  We  were  a  family  very  reticent  in  the  ex- 
pression of  our  feehngs  to  one  another,  but  I  could 
always  see  her  anxiety,  even  when  she  put  on  a 
cheerful  countenance. 

On  leaving  the  hospital,  eighty-five  days  after 
entering  it,  I  returned  to  my  benefactress,  Mrs. 
Baker.  For  I  was  still  very  weak,  and  could  walk 
only  on  perfectly  level  ground.  With  her  immeasur- 
able kindness,  she  turned  her  dining  room  into  a 
bedroom  for  me,  and  gave  me  the  most  nutritious 
and  excellent  diet.  Mrs.  Baker  was  a  perfect  house- 
keeper. She  was  in  every  way  a  queenly  woman. 
Her  servants  loved  her  and  obeyed  her  implicitly. 
Her  mansion  was  neatness,  order,  beauty.  For  such 
a  woman  to  change  her  dining  room  to  a  bedroom 
was  heroic  unselfishness.  In  seven  or  eight  days  I 
was  able  to  go  upstairs  with  the  aid  of  a  cane.  I 
then  determined  to  leave,  and  go  to  my  family  in 
Amherst  ;  but  Mrs.  Baker  kept  me,  7iolens  volcnSy 
for  two  weeks.  At  the  end  of  that  time  I  went  in  a 
Pullman  car  to  Palmer  very  comfortably,  as  I  could 
lie  or  sit  at  pleasure.  A  foreign  diplomat  was  in  the 
car,  with  whom  I  had  an  interesting  discussion  on 


500 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


the  doctrine  of  "chances"  ;  but  who  he  was,  I  do 
not  know. 

I  rejoined  my  family  with  boundless  joy.  I  began 
at  once  to  exercise  my  enfeebled  limb  in  walking  on 
the  veranda  four  or  five  times  a  day.  My  recovery 
of  the  use  of  my  limb  was  rapid,  but  as  the  new 
flesh  formed  to  restore  it  from  its  emaciated  condi- 
tion, I  suffered  much  from  burning  and  itching  of 
the  surface. 

Before  I  was  fully  recovered,  I  was  requested  to 
visit  Washington,  on  behalf  of  the  American  resi- 
dents in  Turkey,  in  order  to  have  an  interview  with 
the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Hamilton  Fish,  and 
explain  to  him  more  fully  the  reasons  why  our  gov- 
ernment should  sign  the  Turkish  protocol  by  which 
American  citizens  would  gain  the  right  to  hold  real 
estate  in  the  Turkish  empire.  It  was  a  subject  with 
every  phase  of  which  I  was  acquainted.  I  felt  sure 
that  an  interview  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  would 
be  sufficient  to  decide  the  question.  To  my  surprise 
I  found  that  he  had  prejudged  the  matter  —  would 
not  listen  to  any  explanations  —  and  declared  he 
would  not  sign  the  protocol !  and  moreover,  that  if 
I  should  endeavor  to  get  the  action  of  Congress  for 
the  case,  he  would  oppose  it  with  all  his  influence. 
I  left  him  in  great  indignation,  firmly  resolved  to  get 
the  action  of  Congress  if  possible,  that  should  com- 


ENDOWMENT  FOR  ROBERT   COLLEGE.        50I 

pel  him  to  sign.  As  I  was  nearing  the  capitol,  and 
walking  very  rapidly,  I  passed  two  gentlemen,  one  of 
whom  knowing  me,  said  to  the  other  :  "  Mr.  Blaine, 
this  is  Mr.  Hamlin,  our  missionary  in  Constanti- 
nople." I  was  thus  most  unexpectedly  and  oppor- 
tunely introduced  to  the  man,  whom  of  all  others,  I 
wished  to  see. 

I  briefly  stated  my  case.  He  replied  :  '*  I  have 
paid  some  attention  to  that,  but  you  should  go  to 
Mr.  Fish,  Secretary  of  State."  "  I  have  been  to 
him,  sir.  I  am  just  out  from  his  presence."  "What 
did  he  say  .^ "  I  told  him.  He  thought  it  very 
singular.  But  as  we  were  just  entering  the  house 
he  said  :  "  You  may  wait  in  my  cloak  room,  and  I 
will  bring  you  the  chairmen  of  the  foreign  com- 
mittees." I  stated  the  question  to  them,  and  also 
the  threat  of  the  secretary.  They  pronounced  the 
request  entirely  reasonable,  and  Congress  passed 
upon  it,  so  that  the  secretary  had  to  sign  it  and  did 
sign  it.  Mr.  Blaine  did  for  me  in  ten  minutes  what 
I  might  have  failed  of  doing  at  all. 

We  left  Amherst  for  Hartford  after  Alfred's  grad- 
uation, in  1875  ;  and  I  resumed  my  fruitless  task  of 
seeking  an  endowment  for  Robert  College.  I  ob- 
tained about  ;^ 1 3,000  from  Boston  and  neighborhood; 
about  ;^6,ooo  from  Hartford  and  vicinity  ;  and  I  per- 
suaded Mr.  Robert,  who  had  declared  that  he  would 


502  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

not  give  another  dollar  to  the  college,  to  insert  an 
article  in  his  will  securing  to  it  $30,000.  This  was 
my  only  achievement  in  getting  money  for  the  en- 
dowment. On  the  basis  of  this  I  hoped  for  greater 
success.  Indeed  I  had  the  verbal  promise  of  a 
thousand  dollars  each  from  a  number  of  individuals. 
But  so  soon  as  troubles  in  the  East  began  to  appear, 
and  war  with  Servia  became  imminent,  all  who  had 
given  merely  verbal  promises  at  once  withdrew  them. 
The  old  empire,  said  they,  would  all  go  to  pieces ; 
and  Robert  College  would  be  buried  in  its  ruins  ! 

My  endowment  list  had  amounted  to  fifty-six 
thousand  and  some  hundreds  of  dollars  (including 
Mr.  Robert's  gift  of  $30,000),  when  the  work  stopped. 

Mr.  Robert  had  revisited  Robert  College.  After 
his  return,  his  frankness  and  cordiality  of  manner 
entirely  changed.  I  attributed  this,  however,  to  the 
state  of  his  health,  which  had  been  very  much 
shaken.  He  was  evidently  suffering  from  low 
spirits.  Our  union  for  seventeen  years  had  been  ex- 
tremely cordial.  In  the  long  contest  with  difficul- 
ties, from  1 86 1  to  1869,  he  had  stood  as  firm  as  a 
rock,  with  marvelous  faith  and  trust,  often  writing 
me,  "We  shall  carry  this  through  yet.  Dr.  Hamlin! 
and  that  college  will  be  built ! "  We  had  stated 
times  when  he  in  New  York  and  I  in  Constanti- 
nople should  make  the  college  a  subject  of  prayer, 


ENDOWMENT  FOR  ROBERT   COLLEGE. 


503 


that  God  would  guide  our  efforts  and  make  the  col- 
lege fruitful  of  great  and  lasting  good.  After  that 
signal  triumph  had  crowned  our  efforts,  he  often  de- 
clared that  he  had  never  enjoyed  anything  so  much 
in  all  his  life  as  he  had  in  his  cooperation  with  me 
in  that  work.  He  often  said  :  "  We  shall  never  sepa- 
rate in  this  work  so  long  as  we  both  live!"  When 
at  length  I  saw  that  I  could  do  nothing  more  in  so- 
liciting funds,  I  went  to  New  York  and  had  an  inter- 
view with  Mr.  Robert,  in  his  office,  99  Water  Street. 
After  some  conversation  I  said  to  him  :  **  Mr.  Rob- 
ert, I  think  the  time  has  now  come  for  me  to  return 
to  Constantinople."  He  made  no  immediate  reply, 
but  invited  me  into  the  next  room.  His  manner  was 
very  singular.  He  motioned  me  to  a  seat,  by  a  large 
baize-covered  table,  and  himself  sat  down.  After  a 
short  but  painful  silence  he  said  :  ''  Dr.  Hamlin,  it 
has  been  thought  best  that  you  should  not  return  to 
Constantinople  !  " 

As  a  flash  of  lightning  sometimes  reveals  count- 
less objects  in  startling  clearness,  so  that  remark 
flashed  upon  my  mind  the  meaning  of  many  things 
that  had  been  obscure.  I  saw  instantly  that  my 
seventeen  years  of  connection  with  Mr.  Robert  had 
come  to  an  end.  A  "horror  of  great  darkness"  fell 
upon  me  momentarily.  In  such  experiences  the 
mind  acts  with  inconceivable  rapidity  and  does  the 


504 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


work  of  hours  in  a  moment.  I  resolved  to  ask  for 
no  explanation  and  to  make  no  defense  of  my  course, 
nor  of  my  rights.  I  bowed  my  head  in  silent  prayer 
for  perfect  self-control  ;  then  I  rose  and  said :  "  I 
suppose  we  separate  now,  Mr.  Robert ;  "  and  offered 
him  my  hand.  He  took  my  hand  and  burst  into 
tears. 

Mr.  Robert's  course  is  difficult  of  interpretation. 
He  had  once  informed  me  that  he  had  put  $15,000  of 
seven  per  cent  stock  in  his  will,  the  interest  of 
which  was  to  be  mine  so  long  as  I  should  need  it 
after  I  should  have  retired  from  active  duty.  I  pre- 
sumed that  he  had  changed  his  ideas  of  the  college,, 
which  had  for  seventeen  years  so  fully  accorded  with 
mine  ;  and  that  he  justified  to  his  own  conscience 
the  right  to  set  me  aside  because  of  this  provision 
for  my  future.  But  it  was  not  "so.  When  a  friend 
asked  him  what  Dr.  Hamlin  would  do,  he  replied: 
"  Dr.  Hamlin  is  a  man  who  will  take  care  of  himself 
under  any  circumstances  !  "  After  his  sudden  death, 
in  Paris,  it  was  found  that  just  before  leaving  home 
he  had  made  a  new  will,  entirely  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, and  no  mention  of  me  was  made  therein.  I 
drop  this  most  painful  part  of  my  life's  history  here. 
The  offer  of  being  financial  agent  of  the  college  was 
worthless. 

But  now  —  what  was  I  to  do  }     I  had  barely  money 


ENDOWMENT  FOR   ROBERT   COLLEGE.       505 

enough  to  pay  bills  actually  due,  but  nothing  to  pay 
the  rent  of  the  house  (in  New  Haven)  where  my 
family  was  then  residing.  It  was  the  first  time  in 
our  family  life  that  ^ant  stared  us  in  the  face. 

We  resolved  to  make  no  public  complaint,  and  to 
have  no  scandal  of  a  rupture  in  a  work  which  had 
been  so  signally  blessed  of  God.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  future,  and  the  near  future,  looked  suffi- 
ciently dark.  We  prayed  over  it  with  tears.  My 
wife  shed  the  tears ;  I  was  too  deeply  wounded  for 
that.  My  seventeen  years  of  absolute  devotion  to 
the  college,  with  our  hoped-for  success  and  marvel- 
ous triumphs,  were  coolly  ignored,  and  all  my  thirty- 
five  years'  labors  in  the  East  counted  worthless. 
But,  just  then,  I  had  an  invitation  to  occupy  an 
empty  pulpit  for  three  Sabbaths,  at  twenty  dollars  a 
Sabbath.  In  the  meantime  I  resolved  to  write  a 
book.  On  the  faith  of  its  future  proceeds  I  bor- 
rowed three  hundred  dollars  from  four  friends,  to  be 
reimbursed,  in  whole  or  in  part,  according  to  the 
profits  of  the  work.  This  kept  us  afloat  for  three 
months.  In  that  time  I  wrote  the  volume  "  Among 
the  Turks,"  which  has  yielded  me  about  ^500. 

I  was  correcting  the  proof  sheets  of  this,  when  I 
was  urgently  invited  to  fill  the  vacant  chair  of  The- 
ology in  Bangor  Theological  Seminary.  The  salary 
offered   was   $2,000,   and    a   house    partly    furnished 


506  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

through  the  kindness  of  the  Ladies'  Charitable  Asso- 
ciation in  Bangor,  **  The  Corban,"  of  which  my  dear 
friend,  Mrs.  James  Crosby,  was  president. 

This  was  a  most  unexpected  and  wonderful  deliv- 
erance from  the  exigencies  of  our  situation  !  I  was 
compelled  to  borrow  ^200  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
closing  up  at  New  Haven  and  removing  to  Bangor. 
I  might,  with  some  show  of  justice,  have  claimed  not 
less  than  ^3,000  of  undrawn  salary.  For,  while  I 
was  in  the  unpleasant  business  of  soliciting  funds  for 
the  college,  we  chose  not  to  draw  a  regular  salary, 
but  to  live  in  the  most  economical  way  possible. 
But  as  neither  Mr.  Robert  nor  the  trustees  offered 
anything,  in  my  smothered  indignation  and  pride  I 
resolved  not  to  ask  for  anything.  This  was  our  pain- 
ful farewell  to  Robert  College,  but  that  noted  build- 
ing will  be  my  witness  to  coming  years. 

I  graduated  at  Bangor  Theological  Seminary  in 
1837,  seventy-two  dollars  in  debt.  Just  forty  years 
later,  in  1877,  I  returned  to  the  seminary  as  teacher; 
but  when  settled  in  my  house  I  found  myself  $280 
in  debt.  This  was  not  financial  success !  but  that 
was  what  I  had  never  sought.  But  I  was  in  a  posi- 
tion of  perfect  independence,  fearing  no  man  and 
asking  no  favors.  If  Mr.  Robert  was  waiting  for 
any  claims  from  me,  he  waited  in  vain. 

We  now  resolved,  first  of  all,  to  pay  our  debts,  and 


ENDOWMENT  EOR   ROBERT   COLLEGE.       507 

then  to  lay  up  money  for  the  future,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble. When  I  first  gave  myself  to  the  missionary 
work,  I  resolved  never  to  seek  for  wealth  and  never 
to  have  it.  I  had  lived  on  the  principle  of  squaring 
accounts  at  the  close  of  every  year.  But  now  I  was 
out  of  the  missionary  work,  out  of  all  work,  and  out 
of  all  relations  to  the  Church  or  the  past  that  would 
secure  me  a  livelihood.  We  fixed  upon  $500  as  the 
sum  that  we  would  deposit  in  the  bank  annually. 
But  the  stern  trial  had  been  unfriendly  in  its  influ- 
ence upon  my  wife's  health,  and  she  was  compelled 
to  spend  seven  months  at  Clifton  Springs.  This 
diminished  our  bank  account,  notwithstanding  the 
generous  kindness  of  Dr.  Henry  Foster.  But  we 
paid  our  debts,  and  from  that  day  to  this,  our  earthly 
possessions  have  annually  increased,  and  some 
marvelous  additions  have  been  made  by  the  kind- 
ness and  generosity  of  friends,  as  will  appear. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

RETURN   TO    BANGOR. 

A  yrUCH  that  was  sad  as  well  as  much  that  was 
^^ ^  pleasant  attended  my  return  to  Bangor,  after 
forty  years  of  active  life.  Most  of  the  friends  that 
made  the  three  years  of  student  life  so  pleasant 
and  memorable  had  passed  away.  A  dozen  or  so  of 
them  survived,  and  with  them  I  held  sweet  inter- 
course, with  sobered  but  not  somber  views  of  life  and 
its  destiny.  The  able,  faithful,  laborious,  and  beloved 
Dr.  Pond,  the  Nestor  of  the  Congregational  minis- 
try, who  had  carried  the  seminary  through  dark 
periods  by  his  invincible  faith,  tact,  and  wisdom,  was 
still  active  in  its  interests  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 
Deafness  secluded  him  from  teaching  and  preaching, 
but  his  pen  moved  as  rapidly  as  ever.  His  last  work 
was  published  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight,  netting  him 
about  $  1,000.  Deacon  Duren,  Deacon  Titcomb,  and 
Deacon  J.  T.  Hardy,  the  portrait  painter,  honored 
and  beloved,  welcomed  me  with  warm  affection. 
Mr.  Hardy  painted  my  portrait,  while  I  was  a  theo- 
logue,  for  my  mother  and  sister  Susan,  living  together. 
After  finishing  it,  he  wanted  I  should  give  him  a 


RETURN   TO   BANGOR. 


509 


sitting  of  one  hour  to  sketch  my  head.  He  was 
going  to  do  it  roughly  and  rapidly,  piling  on  the 
colors.  It  was  certainly  a  success  as  to  expressing 
my  peculiar  phiz,  as  I  think  the  following  incident 
sufficiently  proves. 

Some  five  years  after  I  reached  Constantinople, 
while  passing  along  a  crowded  and  narrow  street, 
some  one  from  the  opposite  side  said  :  "  Good  morn- 
ing, Mr.  Hamlin."  I  responded,  and  passed  right 
across  to  him.  On  meeting,  I  said  to  him  :  "  I  can- 
not recall  you,  sir.     Where  have  we  met  ?  " 

"Nowhere  before  this,"  he  replied.  "We  have 
never  seen  each  other  before." 

"  How,  then,  did  you  know  me,  sir.?  " 

"  I  have  often  seen  your  head  in  Mr.  Hardy's 
studio  in  Bangor,  but  I  never  saw  you  before." 

Mr.  Hardy  was  one  of  my  most  valued  friends, 
and  our  friendship  continued  to  the  last.  I  would 
like  to  speak  of  Duren  and  Titcomb,  the  former  my 
friend  in  boyhood,  the  latter,  a  guide  of  my  early 
spiritual  life,  but  time  would  fail  me. 

Of  the  excellent  ladies  of  Bangor,  I  should  speak 
of  Mrs.  James  Crosby,  Mrs.  Deacon  Brown  and  her 
daughter  Mary  (Mrs.  Pickering),  Mrs.  Jane  H.  Apple- 
ton,  Mrs.  Kate  McGaw  Foster,  Mrs.  Hazzard,  and  a 
few  others  less  intimately  known.  I  have  before 
referred  to  Mrs.    Crosby.     She   is    still   the    comely 


5^0 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


crown  of  Bangor  womanhood,  and  I  shall  always 
remember  her  with  admiration  and  grateful  affection. 

I  was  three  years  at  Bangor.  My  seminary  duties 
occupied  my  time  fully.  My  services,  however  poor, 
were  well  received.  I  preached  occasionally  in  the 
neighboring  churches,  and  I  gave  some  lectures  here 
and  there.  I  lectured  in  St.  John  and  Fredericton, 
N.  B.,  on  the  Eastern  Question,  to  large  and  paying 
audiences.  My  reception  in  these  places  was  very 
cordial.  In  Fredericton,  I  saw  repeatedly  the  traitor 
Arnold's  house,  built  directly  upon  the  street  and 
near  the  river.  The  elms  4^e  planted  are  now  mag- 
nificent trees  and  help  perpetuate  his  infamy.  I 
enjoyed  my  two  visits  to  New  Brunswick  very  much  ; 
the  second  with  my  wife,  spending  a  week  with  the 
Honorable  Mr.  Waugh  —  a  member  of  the  Canadian 
House. 

It  is  one  of  the  misfortunes  of  old  age  not  to  be 
aware  of  its  approach.  I  had  passed  three  years  of 
earnest  work  in  Bangor  Theological  Seminary,  hardly 
conscious  that  I  was  too  old,  in  theology,  in  temper- 
ance, and  in  advocacy  of  the  prohibitory  law.  I  was 
somewhat  rudely  awakened  by  a  vote  of  the  trustees 
to  look  out  for  a  younger  man.  I  resolved  to  resign 
at  once  and  face  the  world  again. 

The  following  lines  were  written  by  my  wife  the 
evening  of  the  vote  :  — 


RETURN   TO   BANGOR.  51I 

The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof! 

Why,  then,  despair? 
Treasures,  uncounted  by  conqueror,  crowd 

Earth,  sea,  and  air; 
Cannot  He  give  thee  thy  portion,  who 

Put  them  all  there? 

The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof! 

That  Lord  is  thine  ! 
Father !  I  look  on  thy  world,  and  I  ask 

For  me  and  mine 
Only  the  wealth  of  a  child's  sweet  trust ! 

My  will  be  Thine  ! 

The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof! 

What  is  heaven,  then? 
How  shall  heart  limit  the  "  fulness  of  joy" 

Laid  up  for  men  ? 
Oh !  for  the  "  poor  in  spirit"  of  earth, 

Dear  Saviour  !  —  when? 

I  could  find  no  employment.  A  man  thrown  upon 
his  resources  at  seventy  is  at  a  disadvantage.  I  re- 
solved to  do  the  best  I  could  both  for  temperance 
and  theology,  orthodox  theology,  drawn  from  the 
Word  of  God,  for  the  coming  year,  and  then  leave 
Bangor.  The  Maine  Law  party,  that  is,  the  party 
for  the  execution  of  the  law,  against  the  party  for 
the  law  but  "agin  its  execution,"  was  determined  to 
punish  Governor  Davis  for  his  treason  to  the  law. 
We  had  a  state  convention  at  Augusta,  but  the  gov- 


512  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

ernor's  party  mobbed  us  out  of  the  hall  —  not,  how- 
ever, till  Mr.  Speare  (Rev.  S.  L.  B.  Speare)  had 
given  them  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  crushing 
philippics  to  which  I  ever  listened.  We  adjourned 
to  Portland,  where  we  were  safe  from  mobs,  and 
organized  a  party  which  upset  the  governor.  He 
failed  of  his  reelection. 

I  was  spending  the  evening  with  my  nephew  in 
Portland.  His  family  were  away.  We  were  reading 
the  newspapers  to  a  late  hour.  He  laid  down  his 
paper  in  his  peculiar,  original  way,  and  announced  his 
disbelief  in  a  special  divine  providence.  "■  Here  you 
have  been,"  he  said,  ''forty  years  hard  at  work  in 
every  good  cause,  and  at  the  age  of  seventy,  you 
are  thrown  out  discredited,  and  you  have  nothing  to 
do  but  go  to  the  poorhouse,  while  rumsellers  and 
their  abettors  are  floating  in  wealth." 

I  made  my  reply,  and  we  retired  to  rest,  engaging 
to  rise  early  and  get  our  breakfast,  he  standing  for 
the  beefsteak,  I  for  the  coffee.  While  thus  em- 
ployed in  the  morning,  the  doorbell  rang,  and  my 
nephew  said  with  some  irritation  :  "  Just  look  out 
for  this  steak,  while  I  go  and  teach  those  grocery 
men  to  come  round  to  the  other  door." 

I  heard  a  grave  voice,  and  my  nephew  returned 
saying,  *'  An  elderly  gentleman,  a  traveler,  wishes 
to  see  you  a  moment." 


RETURN    TO   BANGOR. 


513 


It  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lambert  from  Rupert,  Ver- 
mont. He  had  been  to  Bangor  to  see  me  and  had 
returned  by  the  first  train,  and,  following  the  exact 
directions  given  him  by  my  family,  was  rejoiced  to 
find  me.  He  wanted  an  hour's  talk  with  me  about 
Middlebury  College,  but  must  go  on  in  the  nine 
o'clock  train.  As  we  could  not  offer  him  a  break- 
fast, I  sent  him  right  back  to  the  station,  where  was 
a  good  restaurant,  and  told  him  I  would  follow  him 
in  ten  minutes.  I  had  some  laughable  adventures  in 
following  him,  but  I  reached  there  in  twenty  min- 
utes, not  having  made  known  anything  to  my 
nephew. 

Dr.  Lambert  placed  before  me  the  condition  of 
Middlebury  College,  and  offered  me  the  presidency, 
with  a  salary  of  $2,000  and  a  furnished  house.  He 
did  not  conceal  the  disastrous  condition  of  the  col- 
lege, and  the  need  of  a  new  man  entirely  unknown 
to  all  parties  to  take  hold  of  it  and  rescue  it.  When 
I  asked  him  how  they  came  to  pitch  upon  a  man  of 
seventy  for  such  a  work,  he  replied  that  "  Professor 
Boardman  having  declined.  Dr.  Wickham,  himself, 
and  Mr.  Fairbanks  (Sir  Thaddeus),  backed  up  by  Dr. 
Prentiss*  strong  recommendation,  put  all  the  other 
candidates  aside." 

I  accepted  for  one  year's  conditional  trial,  and  we 
separated  at  the  train  joyfully. 


514 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


When  I  told  my  nephew  he  was  astonished. 
He  took  back  all  he  had  said  against  a  special 
providence. 

I  took  the  next  train  for  Bangor,  sent  in  my  resig- 
nation, and  proposed,  as  my  successor,  Lewis  Stearns, 
who  was  finally,  after  long  balloting,  elected. 

I  hastily  sold  out  at  auction  at  about  seventy-five 
per  cent  discount,  packed  up  what  we  did  not  wish  to 
sell,  and  started  for  Middlebury.  The  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-fourth  Psalm  expressed  my  feelings  with 
relation  to  the  liquor  interest,  but  I  had  many  very 
dear  and  faithful  friends  in  Bangor,  to  all  of  whom 
I  sent  the  following  printed  note  :  — 

TO   MY   FRIENDS    IN   BANGOR. 

Dear  Friends,  —  The  suddenness  with  which  I  leave  Bangor, 
owing  to  my  having  accepted  the  presidency  of  Middlebury  Col- 
lege, and  the  positive  necessity  of  making  no  delay,  have  pre- 
cluded the  possibility  of  farewell  calls.  I  cannot  allow  this  to 
be  attributed  to  indifference.  Bangor  would  have  been  my 
choice  as  a  residence  for  the  remaining  years  of  life.  Its  beau- 
tiful situation,  its  hills  and  valleys  and  rivers  and  neighboring 
lakes,  its  pure  bracing  climate,  but,  above  all,  its  friendly,  refined, 
and  social  people,  would  have  inclined  me  to  make  it  my  resi- 
dence, until  Mount  Hope  should  be  the  final  resting  place,  had 
the  choice  been  possible  to  me. 

But  my  term  of  service  in  Bangor  having  become  limited  to 
the  present  year,  it  was  clearly  my  duty  to  accept  the  offered 
presidency. 


RETURN   TO  BANGOR,  515 

My  residence  in  Bangor  has  been  a  rest  and  deliverance 
from  many  anxieties.  The  Russo-Turkish  war  in  1877  had 
compelled  me  to  cease  from  efforts  on  behalf  of  the  endow- 
ment of  Robert  College,  and  I  was  without  any  means  of 
support  for  my  family  and  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  was 
incurring  debt.  My  coming  here  not  only  relieved  me  from 
this  embarrassment,  but  has  made  me  a  fnoneyed  man!  I 
have  a  bank  account,  and  have  had  an  interesting,  honorable, 
and  useful  work. 

I  shall  always,  moreover,  remember  Bangor  as  having  restored 
to  me,  after  my  wanderings,  something  of  the  idea  of  home.  I 
was  here  three  years  as  student,  from  1834  to  1837.  I  was 
afterwards  forty  years  on  the  battlefields  of  life,  and  I  then 
returned  to  be  three  years  a  teacher  where  I  had  been  three 
years  a  student.  Forty-six  years  measure  the  working  days  of 
most  of  our  lives.  Our  beloved  and  venerated  Dr.  Pond  is  a 
rare  exception.  Whatever  may  yet  in  the  divine  thoughts 
remain  to  me  will  be  given  to  a  work  wholly  congenial,  and  in 
a  State  that  I  would  choose  of  all  others  next  after  my  native 
State. 

The  ancient  Hebrew  was  required  to  "pray  for  the  peace  of 
Jerusalem."  Wherever  I  may  be,  both  duty  and  feeling  will 
lead  me  to  pray  for  the  peace,  purity,  and  prosperity  of  Bangor. 
If  in  anything  I  have  seemed  to  do  otherwise,  dear  friends, 
allow  me  at  least  the  credit  of  acting  conscientiously,  not  self- 
ishly, in  the  fear  of  God  and  in  the  love  of  man.  As  in  the  un- 
certainty of  human  life  this  may  prove  a  long  farewell,  let  me 
follow  apostolic  example  in  wishing  you  grace,  mercy,  and  peace 
from  God  our  Father  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

CYRUS  HAMLIN. 
Bangor,  September  3,  1880. 


5  I  6  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

When  I  think  of  the  ravages  of  rum  in  that  beau- 
tiful city,  I  exclaim,  O  Lord,  how  long ! 

In  accepting  the  presidency  of  Middlebury  Col- 
lege, I  entered  upon  five  years  of  hard  service. 
The  college  had  exploded  !  The  faculty  was  not  har- 
monious. The  trustees  and  faculty  were  at  variance. 
The  president  was  not  in  accord  with  trustees,  fac- 
ulty, or  students.  Finally  the  students  absolutely 
rebelled.  The  president  was  an  excellent  man, 
but  as  totally  unfit  for  that  office  as  a  man  could 
well  be. 

Middlebury  is  a  beautiful  Vermont  town  in  the 
Champlain  Valley.  A  charming  little  river,  absurdly 
named  Otter  Creek,  passes  through  it.  It  takes  its 
rise  from  the  Dorset  Mountain,  gathering  its  clear 
waters  from  many  hills  as  it  passes  along  to  Lake 
Champlain. 

The  fine  presidential  house  into  which  we 
entered  was  reported  to  me  as  "the  coldest  house 
in  town."  It  required  a  furnace  in  the  cellar 
and  a  stove  in  every  room,  during  the  winter 
weather,  and  was  even  then  comfortable  only  in 
fine  weather.  On  careful  examination,  I  discovered 
many  reasons  for  this  that  had  strangely  escaped 
notice.  I  expended  about  ;^ioo  out  of  my  own 
pocket,  and  made  the  house  every  way  healthful 
and  comfortable. 


RETURN   TO  BANGOR. 


517 


It  needed  papering,  painting,  the  rebuilding  of  one 
chimney,  and  certain  other  improvements.  Mr. 
Charles  Starr,  a  generous  friend  of  the  college  and 
of  myself,  offered  me  $700  for  these  purposes.  I 
positively  refused.  While  the  funds  of  the  college 
did  not  meet  expenses,  I  would  not  allow  display  on 
the  president's  house. 

My  predecessor  had  allowed  the  college  to 
accumulate  a  debt  at  the  rate  of  two  to  three 
thousand  dollars  a  year.  I  determined  to  stop 
this  leak,  or  resign,  and  I  did  it,  not  without  great 
effort  and  a  heavy  annual  contribution  from  my 
own  salary. 

During  my  five  years  in  Middlebury,  I  formed 
many  valued  acquaintances  and  friends.  My  rela- 
tions were  very  pleasant  with  the  faculty,  the  trus- 
tees, and  the  students,  and  with  many  families  in 
Middlebury  and  in  neighboring  towns. 

I  had  many  changes  to  propose  in  the  college.  It 
was  in  the  ruts,  and  to  some  the  task  of  extricating 
and  transforming  it  seemed  hopeless.  One  of  the 
trustees  told  me  that  I  had  come  to  attend  a  funeral, 
and  he  knew  I  would  perform  the  ceremony  with 
honor.  But  I  found  signs  of  vigorous  life.  I  formed 
a  plan  which  at  first  most  of  the  trustees  thought 
wild.  The  changes,  they  said,  would  certainly  cost 
twice  my  estimate  of    $j,ooQ^  which  I  proposed  to 


5l8  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

raise  before  expending  a  cent.  Ex-Governor  Stewart 
stood  by  me  nobly  from  the  first.  He  declared  his 
full  approbation  of  the  plan,  and  his  entire  confidence 
in  my  ability  to  carry  it  through.  Without  his  influ- 
ence I  could  have  done  nothing. 

The  response  of  the  trustees  to  my  letter  of  resig- 
nation indicates  briefly  and  generously  the  chief 
changes  I  introduced.  The  prophecies  of  some  that 
I  would  certainly  run  the  college  into  debt  would 
have  proved  true  had  I  done  the  work  by  contract. 
I  proposed  to  take  one  end  of  old  Painter  Hall, 
knock  out  all  the  divisions,  and  change  it  into  a 
library.  Smith  &  Allen  wanted  $3,500  for  that 
work  alone.  I  refused  to  employ  them,  and  they 
laughed  at  my  estimate  of  $1,500.  I  hired  carpen- 
ters, and  accomplished  all  within  $1,500,  adding  two 
handsome  porches  not  in  the  program.  When  all 
was  finished,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  trus- 
tees and  friends,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  reporting 
that  all  was  accomplished  which  I  had  proposed,  and 
some  things  more,  and  I  had  overrun  my  estimate  of 
$7,000  by  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  which  I  had 
paid  myself.  Besides  Governor  Stewart,  the  Starrs, 
Charles  and  Egbert,  were  my  strong  and  generous 
supporters,  and  they  have  been  noble  and  generous 
friends  since  I  left  Middlebury. 

Mr.  Philip  Battell,  one  of  the  oldest  graduates  of 


RETURN   TO   BANGOR. 


519 


the  college,  has  been  very  generous  in  caring  for  the 
library,  and  Mr.  Charles  Starr  has  made  the  splendid 
donation  of  ;^6o,ooo  to  the  college. 

I  here  insert  my  letter  of  resignation:  — 

To  THE  Board  of  Trustees  of  Middlebury  College. 

Gentlemen,  —  The  time  has  come  for  me  to  offer  to  you  the 
resignation  of  my  office  as  president. 

I  have  reached  the  age  when  it  has  always  been  my  purpose  to 
retire  from  responsible  labors. 

After  nearly  seventy-five  years  of  service,  with  its  due  propor- 
tion of  change  and  care,  I  am  no  longer  equal  to  the  wear  and 
tear  of  all  these  college  duties  and  anxieties. 

I  have  introduced  some  improvements,  with  which  you  are 
well  acquainted,  and  I  have  done  all  that  I  am  able  to  do  for 
this  institution. 

It  will  be  the  first  duty  of  my  successor  to  secure  the  fifty 
thousand  dollars'  subscription  to  the  funds  already  begun. 
To  this  work  I  am  every  way  unfitted  and  incompetent,  and  its 
necessity  would  be  alone  a  sufficient  reason  for  my  resignation. 

In  resigning  this  office,  I  am  profoundly  grateful  for  the  uni- 
form kindness,  confidence,  and  support  of  the  trustees.  That 
alone  has  made  certain  changes  possible  and  successful,  and  has 
made  my  five  years  of  service  pass  swiftly  by.  They  are  the 
oasis  of  my  old  age. 

May  God  in  his  infinite  goodness  guide  you  to  another  choice 
which  shall  fulfill  all  your  wishes. 

With  great  respect,  gratitude,  and  esteem, 

I  remain  faithfully  yours, 

(Signed)  CYRUS   HAMLIN. 

July  I.  1885. 


520 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES, 


RESOLUTION  OF   BOARD   OF   TRUSTEES. 


Resolved,  That  the  Corporation  of  Middlebury  College  accept, 
though  with  great  reluctance,  the  resignation  of  Rev.  Cyrus  Hamlin, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  the  office  of  President  of  the  College  and  Corpora- 
tion, which  he  has  administered  with  marked  success  for  five 
years.  Little  evidence  of  the  advanced  age  which  Dr.  Hamlin 
urges  as  his  reason  for  retirement  appears  to  our  eyes,  beyond  the 
vast  amount  of  most  useful  and  varied  work  which  he  has  done. 

Coming  to  this  office  at  an  age  when  most  men  would  seek 
repose  from  such  care,  after  results  accomplished  in  other  fields 
which  would  have  satisfied  the  ambitions  of  most  men,  he 
brought  an  energy  and  administrative  ability  which  have  been 
exercised  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  college. 

He  has  reorganized  the  departments  of  Natural  History, 
Chemistry,  and  General  Physics ;  reconstructed,  catalogued, 
enlarged,  and  rendered  more  practically  useful  the  library ;  and 
provided  the  students  with  a  reading  room,  gymnasium,  and 
commodious  club  house,  where  good  fare  may  be  had  at  mini- 
mum cost  by  all  who  desire  to  practice  economy. 

We  cannot  part  from  Dr.  Hamlin  without  making  expression 
of  our  great  admiration  for  his  character  and  our  gratitude  that 
it  has  been  our  privilege  to  enjoy  this  association  with  him.  He 
leaves  his  impress  upon  the  college,  as  he  has  done  upon  the 
minds  of  those  who  have  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  his  teachings 
and  friendship.  We  assure  Dr.  Hamlin  of  our  aifection  and 
esteem  and  our  hope  that  for  many  peaceful  years  he  may  enjoy 
his  well-earned  rest. 

I  hereby  certify  that  the  above  resolution  was  passed  at  the 
Corporation  meeting  of  Middlebury  College,  July  ist,  a.d.  1885. 

Attest         JAMES  M.  SLADE,  Secretary. 


RETCKiV    TO   BANGOR.  52  1 

Thus  closed  the  forty-eight  active  years  of  my  life. 
I  was  in  my  seventy-fifth  year,  and  I  had  become  so 
afflicted  by  insomnia  that  I  felt  it  was  impossible  to 
hold  out  another  year. 

I  care  not  to  criticize  these  forty-eight  brief  years. 
They  present  themselves  in  such  varied  lights  that 
what  I  should  say  at  one  time  would  not  harmonize 
with  what  I  should  say  at  another.  But  the  feeling, 
the  judgment  "  I  might  have  done  more  and  better," 
follows  me  all  through  whatever  mood  I  may  be  in. 
In  this  solemn  review  I  repeat  to  myself  with  in- 
finite satisfaction,  "There  is  a  fountain  filled  with 
blood." 

I  can  see  that  my  life  has  been  a  varied  one,  and 
that  one  lesson  it  gives  is  that  it  is  not  in  man  that 
walketh  to  direct  his  steps.  My  first  fancy  in  life 
was  to  be  a  farmer.  I  became  a  silversmith  and 
jeweler.  My  aspiration  then  was  to  become  an  im- 
porter, after  reaching  majority  ;  I  became  a  student. 
I  resolved  to  be  a  missionary,  and  to  do  whatever 
work  should  be  given  to  me  to  do,  and  to  sacrifice 
forever  all  aspiration  to  wealth  or  learning.  I  re- 
solved to  go  to  Africa ;  I  was  shunted  off  to  China 
first,  and  then  most  unexpectedly  to  Turkey  and  to 
education  as  my  life's  work.  Dating  from  my  accept- 
ance and  appointment  by  the  American  Board,  I  was 
twenty-three   years,    1837-60,    connected    with    the 


522  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

Board,  then  thirteen  years  in  founding,  building,  and 
fighting  for  Robert  College,  and  bringing  it  forward 
to  marvelous  success,  then  four  years  in  almost  fruit- 
less and  unhappy  efforts  for  an  endowment,  three 
years  professor  of  theology  in  Bangor  Seminary,  five 
years  president  of  Middlebury  College,  as  hath  been 
said.  I  have  seen  every  grade  of  human  life,  from 
the  beggar  to  the  Sultan.  The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury 
and  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe  I  place  at  the  sum- 
mit of  all  the  public  men  I  have  known.  My  life 
has  been'  mainly  with  the  poor  and  the  oppressed, 
and  if  by  infinite  grace  I  reach  the  kingdom  of  the 
blessed,  some  of  them  long  since  there  may  become 
my  teachers  as  I  was  once  theirs.  I  know  that  I 
have  the  respect  and  love  of  the  people  of  the 
East,  so  far  as  I  am  there  known,  and  this  con- 
viction cheers  me  in  my  nearly  useless  old  age. 

I  return  now  to  the  narrative,  and  enter  upon  my 
superannuation. 

I  had  no  time  to  be  sentimental  about  the  final 
condition  of  my  earthly  life.  I  seemed  to  have 
reached  the  last  phase  of  life  on  a  sudden.  I  was 
wholly  unprepared  for  it,  although  I  had  thought  of 
it  all  along,  had  spoken  of  it  freely,  had  felt  that  it 
was  right,  proper,  necessary  that  1  should  put  off  the 
armor  and  retire  from  the  battlefield  to  some   post 


RETURN   TO  BANGOR. 


523 


unexposed  and  easily  guarded.  But  now  it  all  en- 
tered my  actual  experience.  And  is  this  all  of  life } 
How  short  it  looks !  A  little  while  ago  I  was  on  the 
farm  in  Waterford  with  my  brother  Hannibal,  and 
now  here  I  am  an  old  man,  my  work  done,  my  record 
made  and  sealed,  and  I  have  only  to  seek  a  resting 
place  for  a  little  while  !  Mother,  brother,  sisters, 
and  some  of  my  own  beloved  family,  all  gone! 
Verily  man  is  of  few  days  and  full  of  trouble.  He 
cometh  forth  as  a  flower,  and  is  cut  down. 

But  where  shall  I  find  a  resting  place  }  How  shall 
I  keep  the  family  together  }  I  have  some  three  or 
four  thousand  dollars  of  invested  funds,  chiefly  from 
my  friends,  R.  W.  Wood,  m.d.,  Arthur  Stoddard, 
and  S.  M.  Menasian.  This  would  last  me  a  few  years, 
and  then  the  family  must  break  up. 

Or  should  it  break  up  at  once,  and  each  one  seek 
such  shelter  as  God  should  provide }  We  agreed,  on 
the  whole,  to  hold  together  as  long  as  possible,  and 
then  should  separation  come,  it  would  be  so  plainly 
the  will  of  God  that  it  would  come  easy.  There 
would  be  a  training  of  absolute  necessity  for  it. 

We  were  earnestly  invited  to  locate  our  home  at 
Manchester,  Vermont.  It  is  a  most  attractive  place. 
Our  dear  friends.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Wickham,  were 
urgent.  Mr.  Orvis,  of  the  Equinox,  offered  a  house 
at  most  reasonable  terms,  and  we  should  be  near  our 


524 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


dear  friend,  Dr.  Prentiss,  in  his  summer  home  in 
Dorset. 

But  there  was  one  great  objection.  I  should  have 
little  chance  for  employment  of  any  kind  that  would 
help  out  my  slender  resources.  I  decided  finally  to 
seek  a  cottage  in  some  village  within  ten  or  fifteen 
miles  of  Boston,  where  I  might  hope  for  some 
employment. 

I  left  home  in  Middlebury,  I  think  the  last  week  in 
July,  and  began  my  search,  having  fixed  upon  a  rent 
of  1^250  a  year  as  the  highest  I  could  afford  to  give. 
I  visited  North  Woburn,  Woburn,  Winchester,  the 
Somervilles,  Hyde  Park,  Jamaica  Plain,  the  Newtons, 
Auburndale,  etc.,  and  found  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  my 
foot. 

The  pleasant  and  healthful  places  were  all  above 
the  price  I  could  offer.  A  wise  woman  helped  me 
out  of  my  difficulty.  It  was  Mrs.  Carruth,  of  Dor- 
chester, "  who  has  been  a  helper  of  many  and  of  me 
also."  Visiting  her  house,  to  see  her  daughters  just 
returned  from  Constantinople,  where  they  had  been 
generously  kind  to  my  daughter  Clara,  and  mention- 
ing my  perplexity  and  despair  of  success,  Mrs.  Car- 
ruth said  :  "  If  you  must  have  a  garden  with  your 
house,  why  don't  you  go  to  Lexington  .?  Land  is 
cheaper  there  than  in  any  other  place  so  near  Boston, 
because  there   are   no   factories   and    no  crowds    of 


RETURN   TO  BANGOR.  525 

foreign  workmen  to  cover  the  land."  In  all  my  re- 
searches, no  one  had  mentioned  Lexington  or  given 
me  such  advice.  The  next  morning  saw  me  here.  I 
found  this  house  through  the  kind  and  ready  assist- 
ance of  Rev.  E.  G.  Porter  and  Mr.  George  E.  Muzzey, 
who  gave  up  a  whole  afternoon  to  me,  and  who  have 
always  stood  ready  to  do  a  favor.  The  owner,  Mr. 
J.  L.  Norris,  would  sell,  but  would  not  rent.  I 
would  rent,  but  would  not  buy.  So  all  separated, 
and  I  went  back  to  my  lodgings  in  Boston  to  sleep 
over  it  and  decide.  The  terms  were  easy,  $3,000; 
;^5oo  down  and  a  five  per  cent  mortgage  payable 
in  annual  instalments.  Now  I  had  $500  in  the 
savings  bank,  the  gift  of  a  dear  friend,  Mrs.  S.  T. 
Dana,  3  Arlington  Street,  Boston.  In  a  stormy  pas- 
sage across  the  Atlantic  I  had  kept  her  courage  up, 
and  she  was  always  overgrateful.  She  never  knew 
how  that  legacy  would  give  me  a  home.  I  hope,  how- 
ever, she  knows  it  in  her  heavenly  home.  She  was  a 
cultivated  Christian  woman  of  the  finest  mold. 

In  the  morning,  I  saw  clearly  that  the  thing  to  do 
was  to  purchase  the  place,  which  I  did  that  very  day  ; 
not  an  hour  too  soon,  for  another  man  was  right  on 
my  heels  to  take  it. 

The  writings  were  made  out  and  the  deed  given 
August  13,  1885. 

I    then  returned    to   Middlebury,  to   pack  up  and 


526  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

move  to  our  home.  I  knew  not  how  I  should  pay 
for  it,  but  the  interest  on  the  mortgage,  $\2^,  and  the 
taxes,  about  $^o,  would  be  ^165  per  annum.  The 
property  would  certainly  not  depreciate  in  value. 
We  all  rejoiced  at  the  prospect  of  some  permanency. 
To  be  in  danger  of  moving  every  year  is  a  sad  fate 
for  old  people. 

I  came  on  the  seventh  of  September ;  my  family 
a  week  later.  The  house  was  new  ;  the  land,  48,000 
feet,  a  little  more  than  an  acre  in  a  very  rough  state. 
I  could  obtain  very  little  help,  and  I  worked  every 
day  to  the  utmost  of  my  strength.  The  weather 
was  fine,  the  air  pure,  and  my  sleep  was  decidedly 
improved. 

We  came  into  shape  very  slowly.  Furniture, 
carpets,  window  shades,  kitchen  furniture,  must  be 
immediately  secured.  Friends  around  us  were  very 
kind,  and  we  made  some  progress  every  day.  But 
cold  weather  came  before  we  felt  fairly  settled. 

My  dear  chum  at  Bangor  Theological  Seminary, 
Rev.  Dr.  Tappan,  of  Norridgewock,  hearing  of  my 
purchase,  sent  me  a  check  for  fifteen  dollars  to  buy 
some  article  of  furniture  with.  I  felt  he  ought  not 
to  do  it,  but  it  proved  to  be  the  drop  before  the 
shower  —  a  torrent.  As  one  friend  after  another 
heard  of  the  purchase  they  also  sent  in  their  checks, 
^25,  ;^5o,  ^100,  ;^200,  $250,  $500,  $500,  ^500,  and  so 


RETURN    TO   BANGOR. 


527 


on  until  the  thirteenth  of  February,  just  six  months 
after  the  date  of  the  purchase,  I  made  the  last  pay- 
ment, took  up  the  mortgage,  and  paid  the  interest  that 
had  accrued.  Fortunately  one  of  the  written  condi- 
tions of  the  contract  was  that  payments  could  be 
made  at  any  time  if  it  suited  my  convenience.  One 
of  the  ^500  gifts  was  by  the  hand  of  our  pastor, 
whose  hand  is  in  multitudinous  good  works.  He 
was  invited  to  dine  with  us  on  my  seventy-fifth  birth- 
day, and  he  had  collected  from  friends  in  Lexington 
and  in  other  places,  together  with  what  he  gave  him- 
self, the  $500,  which  formed  the  chief  article  of  the 
dessert.  We  have  had  many  kindnesses  from  Mr. 
Porter,  and  from  other  friends  through  him.  I  feel 
quite  abashed  and  ashamed  of  all  this  kindness  and 
attention.     I  have  done  so  little  to  deserve  it. 

I  must  go  back  to  one  thing  omitted,  but  I  will 
first  give  one  or  two  incidents  omitted  in  my  house 
story.  Five  hundred  dollars  only  remained,  and  we 
resolved  to  practice  every  economy  and  stretch  every 
nerve  to  pay  that  within  a  year  from  purchase.  But 
the  payment  was  completed  in  just  six  months,  as  I 
have  said  above.  The  last  fifty  dollars  were  given 
by  two  ladies  in  Portland,  who  were  of  my  audience 
in  Second  Church,  Portland,  1837,  Mrs.  Goodnow 
and  her  sister,  Mrs.  .  That  came  by  Mr.  Por- 
ter's hand.     So,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I   be- 


528  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

came  a  house  owner,  and  a  prospective  owner  of  a 
garden,  the  rough  acre  calling  for  too  much  hard 
labor.  It  all  seemed  like  a  dream.  When  I  gave 
myself  to  missions  I  resolved  to  eschew  two  things, 
as  I  have  mentioned :  —  first,  money-getting.  I  would 
live  and  die  poor.  Second,  that  I  would  never  aim 
at  being  literary  or  scientific,  except  just  so  far  as 
my  work  should  demand.  But  now  here  was  the 
possession  of  a  house  and  land  thrust  upon  me 
by  the  kindness  of  friends.  I  saw  plainly  the 
hand  of  God  in  it,  and  I  came  down  from  the 
heights  of  my  poverty  to  be  a  land  owner  and  a 
payer  of  taxes. 

We  had  no  sooner  become  a  little  settled  in  our 
new  home  than  Mr.  Porter  gave  us  a  grand  recep- 
tion at  the  Massachusetts  House.  We  did  not  ap- 
prehend such  a  gathering.  It  was  said  not  less  than 
three  hundred  were  there.  It  was  quite  confusing, 
and  the  complimentary  part  overwhelming.  Mr. 
Porter  conducted  the  whole  affair  with  an  ability  and 
grace  which  few  men  possess.  He  held  it  perfectly 
in  hand  to  the  close.  Rev.  Dr.  March,  of  Woburn, 
Dr.  N.  G.  Clark,  Mr.  Ezra  Farnsworth,  and  the 
Mayor  of  Waltham  made  the  speeches. 

Mr.  Porter  interspersed  his  remarks  with  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  letters  which  he  had  received 
in  answer  to  his  invitation  :  — 


RETURN   TO  BANGOR,  529 

Boston,  September  4,  1885. 
Rev.  E.  G.  Porter. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  Of  all  Americans  who  have  taken  up  their 
residence  in  the  Eastern  hemisphere,  there  is  no  one  who  has 
shown  a  greater  desire  to  benefit  the  people  where  they  labored 
or  been  a  richer  blessing  in  their  self-denying  efforts,  than  the 
guest  you  seek  to  honor.  He  certainly  is  worthy  of  the  grati- 
tude and  love  of  all  his  countrymen ;  and,  I  am  happy  to  add, 
it  is  universally  accorded  to  him. 

Faithfully  yours, 

DAVID  R.  HITCHCOCK. 

Portland,  Me.,  September  2,  1885. 
My  dear  Mr.  Porter,  —  Lexington  seems  both  naturally  and 
historically  selected  as  the  happy  retreat  of  a  veteran,  who  has 
most  signally  illustrated,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  peace  and  in 
war,  the  prompt  initiative,  versatile  genius,  and  philanthropic 
spirit  of  your  time-honored  town  —  and  of  our  common  civiliza- 
tion. Very  truly  yours, 

E.  C.  CUMMINGS. 

LoNGMEADOW,  September  14,   1885. 
Rev.  E.  G.  Porter. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  have  duly  received  the  invitation  extended 

to  Mrs.  W and  myself,  to  attend  the  proposed  reception  to 

be  given  to  my  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hamlin,  on  the  22d  inst. 
We  should  be  very  happy  to  be  present  on  an  occasion  of  so 
much  interest ;  and  very  much  regret  that  the  prospect  of  our 
being  able  to  do  so  is  too  slight  to  permit  us  to  encourage  the 
hope. 

I  congratulate  both  Brother  Hamlin  and  yourselves  on  his 
choice  of  your  community  as  the  one  in  which  he  may  pass  the 


530 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


quiet  evening  of  his  useful  and  honored  life.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  he  will  highly  enjoy  both  the  historical  reminiscences  and 
the  modern  privileges  of  your  goodly  town  ;  and  that  the  Divine 
blessing  will  crown  his  life  even  to  its  close  —  which  I  pray  may 
be  distant.  Ever  truly  yours, 

SAMUEL  WOLCOTT. 

Wellesley,  September  i8,  1885. 
My  dear  Porter,  —  It  would  give  me  unfeigned  pleasure  to 
meet  Dr.  Hamlin,  as  you  and  he  both  know.  He  is  worthy  of 
attention  and  honor.  He  has  a  noble  record,  and  a  reward  on 
high.  I  wish  he  could  have  something  done  for  him  by  the 
churches,  to  make  his  old  age  bright  and  comfortable. 
Very  truly  and  cordially, 

E.  B.  WEBB. 

North  Woburn,  September  16,  1885. 
My  dear  brother  Porter,  —  For  nearly  fifty  years  I  have 
known  the  man  whom  we  all  so  highly  respect.  Before  he 
entered  upon  the  work  of  a  missionary,  and  when  he  was  sup- 
plying a  pulpit  in  Portland,  I  first  made  his  acquaintance,  and 
called  with  him  upon  the  family  of  the  sainted  Payson,  in  that 
city.  I  was  present,  when  in  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  he 
received  his  instructions  as  a  missionary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
And  when,  soon  after  this,  I  became  a  missionary  in  Western 
Asia  myself,  and  was  so  Avorn  down  by  the  incessant  excitements 
and  perils  of  four  successive  wars  as  to  be  laid,  at  last,  at  death's 
door,  by  a  long  and  very  dangerous  illness,  in  Jerusalem  and 
Beirut,  it  was  an  inexpressible  comfort  to  me  to  know  that 
Brother  Hamlin,  though  a  thousand  miles  distant,  understood 
our  case  and  expressed  (in  writing)  the  warm  sympathy  which, 
in  my  prostration,  I  needed  and  craved. 


RETUKN   TO  BANGOR. 


531 


But  my  intention  was  to  speak,  not  of  myself,  but  of  him  — 
the  man,  the  Christian,  the  minister  of  Christ,  the  teacher,  the 
heroic  missionary  of  the  Cross.  I  used  to  think  of  him,  in  those 
far-off  days,  as  a  man  of  all  trades :  inventor,  genius,  courtier, 
manager,  agitator,  peacemaker;  and  I  hardly  know  what  not 
besides  !  and  yet  always  and  everywhere  the  disciple  of  Him 
who  "went  about  doing  good";  and,  amid  all  forms  of  error, 
superstition,  and  corruption,  the  fearless  preacher  of  righteous- 
ness. It  was  then,  and  is  still,  my  firm  conviction  that  our 
brother  was  raised  up  and  specially  qualified  to  fill  a  position 
in  the  Turkish  Mission  which  it  was  of  vital  importance  to  fill, 
and  which  few  men  living  could  fill.  Let  us  thank  God  that  he 
employed  him  so  usefully  in  the  varied  service  to  which  he  was 
called  ;  and  let  us  congratulate  him  that  he  was  enabled  to  be 
obedient  to  the  heavenly  vision. 

Cordially  invoking  the  best  of  heaven's  blessings  on  our  dear 
brother  and  friend.  Dr.  Hamlin,  and  on  all  who  may  meet  him 
on  Tuesday  evening,  I  remain,  as  ever, 

His  and  your  friend,  very  truly, 

LEANDER  THOMPSON. 

The  evening  passed  off  remarkably  well,  there 
being  no  waiting,  no  hitch  anywhere.  Mrs.  Hayes,  of 
the  Oakmount  Palace,  sent  us  home  in  her  carriage, 
with  a  wonderful  basket  of  artistically  arranged  fruit 
from  her  estate,  products  of  tropical  and  temperate 
zones.  Who  but  Mr.  Porter  would  have  gotten  up 
all  this .? 

Before  I  was  fairly  settled  in  my  new  house,  the 
question  of  family  support  demanded  consideration. 


532 


MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


We  were  five  persons,  and  two  of  these,  the  young- 
est daughter  and  youngest  son,  still  in  the  process  of 
education.  I  found  it  difficult  to  obtain  empty  pul- 
pits to  fill.  Age  and  the  entire  absence  of  popular 
gifts  as  a  speaker  are  sufficient  reasons ;  and, 
besides,  the  competition  of  younger  and  abler  men 
for  every  empty  pulpit  was  far  too  great  to  allow  me 
any  chance  for  success.  There  were  ten  hungry 
mouths  for  every  morsel. 

I  did  something  in  lecturing  for  a  time,  but  with 
no  very  cheering  results.  I  could  sell  my  railroad 
bonds  and  live  for  a  while,  but  then  absolute  destitu- 
tion would  follow.  At  length  I  resolved  to  apply  to 
the  American  Board  for  work.  It  was  with  great 
reluctance.  It  was  humiliating.  The  employment 
that  had  come  to  me  thus  far  had  come  without  my 
seeking.  Now  old,  superannuated,  past  work  in  pub- 
lic estimation,  it  would  not  do  to  wait  for  something 
to  turn  up.  I  felt  less  reluctance  to  apply  to  the 
Board  because  I  had  paid  into  its  work  not  less  than 
;^30,ooo,  —  including  rent  I  might  say  more  than 
$30,000,  —  which  was  more  than  I  had  ever  received 
from  the  Board  in  all  my  missionary  life. 

Dr.  Clark  said  the  Board  would  gladly  aid  me,  and 
no  one  would  have  an  objection  to  make.  But  then 
I  insisted  it  should  come  by  way  of  work,  and  not  as 
gratuity.     It  was  finally  proposed  that  I  receive  $500 


RETURN   TO  BANGOR. 


533 


a  year  from  the  Board,  and  that  I  address  the 
churches,  who  should  call  me,  on  missions,  not 
taking  up  any  collection.  I  agreed  to  this  joyfully, 
and  thus  far  it  has  worked  well ;  that  is,  well  for  me. 
I  have  enjoyed  visiting  the  churches,  and  have 
always  found  some  whose  hearts  were  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  missionary  work,  and  some  who  had 
erroneous  views  of  the  nature  and  modes  of  our 
work. 

In  the  beginning  of  September,  1887,  I  was  called 
suddenly  and  most  unexpectedly  to  take,  for  a  short 
time  as  was  supposed,  the  place  of  Professor  Karr  in 
the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary.  I  had  recently 
destroyed  my  theological  notes  and  manuscripts 
which  had  accumulated  during  the  three  years  at 
Bangor,  but  the  Hartford  faculty  took  the  responsi- 
bility, and  I  went,  expecting  to  return  at  Christmas 
or  before.  I  had  to  teach  dogmatic  theology,  Chris- 
tian ethics  and  apologetics.  Professor  Karr,  instead 
of  the  recovery  hoped  for,  went  to  the  grave,  and  ter- 
minated a  very  noble  life,  to  the  grief  and  loss  of  the 
seminary.  I  remained  per  force  of  circumstances 
till  February  22,  1888.  The  pay  was  generous,  ;^200 
per  month  and  board.  The  duties  were  heavy,  and 
their  performance  gave  that  sort  of  satisfaction  that 
comes  from  necessity.  There  was  no  better  man 
lying  round  loose  with  nothing  to  do.     The  compe- 


534 


MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 


tent  men  were  all  in  places  they  could  not  leave  for 
a  few  months'  employment.  I  do  not  think  I  ren- 
dered a  quid  pro  quOy  but,  on  the  whole,  it  was  just 
what  had  to  be. 

With  the  aged,  venerated,  and  beloved  Dr.  William 
Thompson  I  had  the  most  delightful  Christian  inter- 
course ;  with  Dr.  Bissell  also,  and  with  Mr.  Rich- 
ardson, the  librarian ;  with  the  rest  I  formed  no  ac 
quaintance.  On  the  whole,  it  was  a  happy  change 
in  the  uniform  current  of  my  life. 

At  the  close  of  my  duties  at  Hartford,  I  was  in- 
tending to  visit  my  honored  friend  and  the  benefac- 
tor of  Robert  College,  George  H.  Corliss,  the  great 
steam  engine  inventor  and  manufacturer.  He  had 
urgently  invited  me  to  spend  a  few  days  at  his  house, 
and  inspect  all  the  changes  he  was  introducing  to  his 
great  manufactory.  What  was  my  surprise  and  grief 
to  read  in  the  morning  paper  his  sudden  death  !  He 
was  one  of  the  remarkable  men  of  his  age,  and  his 
name  will  be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance. 

Dr.  Thompson  has  also  passed  away  at  great  age, 
a  man  Christlike  in  life  and  temper,  pure,  upright, 
just,  unselfish,  of  very  clear  judgment  and  invincible 
firmness  of  purpose,  true  to  the  Word  and  Church  of 
God.     He  held  the  helm  with  the  skill  of  a  captain. 

There  is  little  further  of  interest  to  notice  in  my 
quiet  life.     Chris  and  I  have  built,  with  great  labor. 


RETURN    TO    BANGOR. 


535 


a  small  annex  to  our  small  house.  It  is  a  great 
boon.  Mrs.  Baker  paid  for  the  material.  We  have 
also  immensely  improved  our  land,  a  part  of  which, 
around  the  pump,  was  a  small  Serbonian  bog.  I 
have  become  missionary  editor  on  Dr.  Cook's  staff  in 
Our  Day.  The  magnificent  progress  of  the  mission- 
ary work  in  India,  China,  Japan,  and  other  places 
cheers  us  with  thoughts  of  the  coming  glory  of  the 
Lord.  The  Turks  are  now  deluded  by  their  own 
fanaticisms  and  the  policy  of  France  and  Russia  to 
attempt  the  effacement  of  Evangelical  religion  from 
the  empire.  "  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall 
laugh,  the  Lord  shall  have  them  in  derision."  There 
is  much  suffering  by  the  poor  defenseless  Protestants 
which  calls  for  the  interference  of  Christian  nations. 
Turkey  exists  by  their  permission,  and  should  not 
have  their  permission  to  persecute  Christians. 

Let  me  here  remind  the  reader  that  these  records 
were  made  in  the  familiar,  unadorned  style  of  address 
to  my  children,  and  if  clear  and  intelligible  they  are 
not  subject  to  further  criticism. 

I  have  received  innumerable  kindnesses  from 
many  sources.  If  I  have  been  in  any  exigency,  it 
was  sure  to  be  relieved  by  some  unexpected  check, 
whether  for  $\o  or  $50,  or  some  intermediate  sum.  It 
always  seemed  as  though  spirits  unseen  walk  among 
us,  and  have  means  of  suggesting  thought  to  others 


536  MY  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

without  revealing  themselves  to  consciousness. 
Whether  by  this  or  some  other  way  "  Our  Father's  " 
care,  "  who  knoweth  that  we  have  need  of  these 
things,"  reaches  us  always  and  at  the  right  time.  I 
have  neither  wealth  nor  poverty,  but  I  have  all 
things  needful  for  a  quiet  and  happy  life  while  I 
await  the  Master's  call.  In  the  unmerited  and  un- 
bounded kindness  of  innumerable  friends  I  have 
received  the  promise,  "hundredfold  more  in  this 
present  life." 


APPENDIX. 


Two  views  are  presented  of  Robert  College.  One,  not  the 
best  view  of  the  building,  is  taken  from  the  rear,  in  order  to 
show  its  relation  to  the  Asiatic  shore  and  to  the  Bosphorus,  which 
bends  round  the  college  promontory  and  disappears  behmd  the 
tower  at  the  left.  Opposite  are  dimly  seen  the  Asiatic  towers 
and  the  entrance  to  the  -Heavenly  Waters."  The  college  has 
been  an  acknowledged  power  in  the  empire. 

Of  the  three  characteristic  pictures  of  students  of  Bebek 
Seminary  that  of  Colonel  Toros  represents  a  large  element  of 
educational  results  that  is  not  directly  missionary  and  yet  is  very 
useful  in  the  general  progress  of  society.  He  rose  from  a  posi- 
tion of  hopeless  poverty  to  one  of  honor  and  influence. 

I  regret  that  I  cannot  give  the  portrait  of  Baron  Zenope,  the 
genius  in  chemistry  and  the  most  noble  example  of  Christian 
patriotism  and  self-abnegation. 

The  native  pastors,  teachers,  translators,  and  editors  have  been 
the  choicest  fruits  of  the  institution,  and  their  average  character 
is  the  halo  of  its  history.  It  may  challenge  later  institutions  to 
show  better  results. 

Pastor  and  Professor  Mardiros  was  one  whom  President  Hop- 
kins would  have  chosen  into  the  number  seven.  He  once 
remarked  that  if  he  could  graduate  seven  men  every  year  he 
would  be  satisfied  with  his  year's  work.  Mardiros  had  a  clear 
head  and  a  pure  heart  and  he  never  lifted  up  his  soul  unto  vanity. 
Few  men  have  been  so  universally  respected  and  beloved.  To 
the  evancrelical  Armenian  community  his  loss  seems  irreparable. 
Pastor  Alexander,  of  Adabazar,  was  his  peer  in  all  respects. 
He  had  preeminently  that  which  is  called  faculty.  He  was  wise 
to  plan  and  skillful  to  execute.  He  had  the  grace  of  continuance, 
and  could  not  he  diverted  from  his  main  object.  He  was  one 
exception  to  the  rule,  -  The  prophet  has  little  honor  in  his  own 
countrv."     He  was  called  in  his  youth  to  be  the  pastor  of  the 


538  MV  LIFE  AND    TIMES. 

little  church  in  his  native  place,  and  there  he  passed  his  entire 
active  life.  His  church  became  preeminent  for  its  missionary 
efforts  and  its  educational  institutions. 

Time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of  many  others,  some  of  whom 
have  entered  into  rest,  and  some  are  still  serving  God  and  their 
generation. 

I  look  upon  the  portrait  of  Ahmed  Vefyk  Pasha  with  feelings  of 
gratitude  and  also  of  deep  sorrow.  He  was  probably  the  most 
learned  Turkish  gentleman  of  his  day.  He  belonged  to  the 
liberal  element  of  the  empire.  Always  when  in  office  he  made 
things  hum  to  such  an  extent  that  the  sleepy  empire  had  no  place 
where  he  could  long  be  endured.  I  enjoyed  his  friendship  and 
had  his  confidence  to  a  remarkable  degree.  He  felt  most  deeply 
the  disasters  and  ruin  of  the  empire.  He  had  many  enemies,  of 
course  ;  he  had  also  very  warm  friends.  His  last  days  were 
clouded  and  his  mind  lost  its  balance.  He  was  always  a  faithful 
friend  to  Robert  College. 


Date  Due 

FACULTY 

FACULTV 

FACULTX 

Jttt^gs 

^^■e*** 

JUN 

f) 

'\A 


J;^    '(^ -'-'"'     > 


'jf ."   . 


